"President Obama’s Pipeline Safety Agency Waits for a Leader"

"The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has been without a permanent boss for 214 days."

"President Barack Obama has blown past the legal deadline to name a permanent boss for the agency that oversees the safety of the nation’s oil trains and fossil-fuel pipelines — while potentially life-or-death regulations continue to sit in limbo.

It’s part of a pattern for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, where an internal structure that gives deference to industry has helped stymie safety initiatives for years, even as pipeline accidents have caused more than 170 deaths, 670 injuries and $5 billion in property damage during the past decade. Critics say the agency is in dire need of an overhaul — and want Obama to appoint a leader who’s willing to carry one out.

The White House’s short list for administrator includes one insider — the acting PHMSA chief who has been filling in since October — and two outsiders: a state pipeline regulator from Rhode Island and a conservationist who has served on one of the agency’s advisory committees."

Andrew Restuccia and Elana Schor Report for Politico May 6, 2015.