Fossil fuel companies and trade groups are using essential pipeline safety legislation to further criminalize pipeline protests.
By Emily Sanders, The Lever
At the urging of their fossil fuel donors, lawmakers are quietly working to massively expand criminal penalties against people who protest pipelines as part of negotiations over essential new federal pipeline safety regulations.
Congress is negotiating the pipeline safety legislation, a reauthorization of the Pipeline Hazardous Materials and Safety Administration program, in the wake of disastrous carbon dioxide pipeline leaks that have endangered nearby communities, stumped emergency responders, and left residents with health issues for years to come. In total, 124 new oil, gas, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide pipelines have been announced or are in the preconstruction or construction phase in the U.S., according to data from fossil fuel infrastructure tracker Oil and Gas Watch.

The federal penalty for damaging or destroying interstate pipelines is already a felony charge mandating up to 20 years in prison. But the industry’s proposed additions, described in executives’ congressional testimony and policy briefs posted online, would widen the definition of and punishment for “attacks” on pipelines using vague language that could implicate a far broader set of activities used to protest fossil fuel infrastructure. Such language has already begun to make its way into the legislative effort to reauthorize the pipeline safety administration as Congress decides the agency’s funding and legislative mandates for the next few years.
Recent Posts
These Veterans Starved Themselves To Protest The War In Gaza
July 8, 2025
Take Action Now As food in Gaza becomes increasingly scarce, activists are pushing their bodies to the limit in solidarity.By Emmet Fraizer, The…
ICE Agents Are Terrorizing Los Angeles With Brutal Tactics
July 8, 2025
Take Action Now ICE agents have established a pattern of brutal use of force in immigration raids.By Jonah Valdez, The InterceptSince June 6,…
Talk World Radio: India Walton On Zohran Mamdani And Freezing Out ICE
July 7, 2025
Take Action Now India Walton, former Democrat nominee for mayor of Buffalo, NY, discusses Zohran Mamdani and the race for NYC mayor and how to deal…
How Climate Change Is Worsening Flooding And Heavy Rainfall
July 7, 2025
Take Action Now The latest science on the link between climate change and natural disasters — and how they may be playing out where you live.By…