A bill to allow for the use of risk-based inspections for in-service breakout tanks.

Oil and gas pipeline operators would be allowed to inspect their in-service breakout tanks — the storage tanks that hold product at pipeline stations — based on risk rather than a fixed schedule, meaning tanks judged more likely to fail get inspected more often, and lower-risk tanks less often. Under current rules, all tanks follow the same inspection cycle regardless of condition. The Department of Transportation would have to update the regulations to allow this. Affects the operators maintaining roughly 2.8 million miles of U.S. pipeline infrastructure; supporters say it targets inspection resources more efficiently, critics worry it could let companies stretch out inspections on aging equipment.