Fiscal Note
No appropriation required.
Title
Supporting the retrofit of existing DOT-111 rail tank cars that transport Packing Groups I and II Hazmat before the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration in Docket No. PHMSA-2012-0082 (HM-251).
Body
WHEREAS, rail freight operations impact thousands of villages, towns, cities and counties across all regions of the United States of America; and,
WHEREAS, safe rail operations are of critical interest to local units of government based on (1) the need to prevent catastrophic accidents like the one that occurred in Lac-Megantic, Canada in July 2013; and (2) the responsibility local governments have to provide emergency response units to manage the impact of rail accidents and derailments in communities across the country; and (3) significant costs associated with clean-up, environmental remediation, medical expenses, other personal injury damages or wrongful death claims for community residents that have the potential to surpass the rail industry’s ability to pay for them; and,
WHEREAS, ethanol and crude oil are a large and exponentially growing segment of hazardous materials being shipped across the nation via freight rail, which will continue to be a preferred transport mode of choice for this hazmat; and,
WHEREAS, since 1991, it has been known to industry and federal regulators that there are safety-related defects in the DOT-111 tank car that serves as the primary tank car used in the shipping of these hazardous flammable materials via freight rail; and,
WHEREAS, the federal Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) regulates the safe transport of hazardous materials by railroads in the United States; and,
WHEREAS, the business decisions of railroad companies and hazardous material shippers impact the safety, environment, and emergency response system in the communities in which the freight railroads traverse, but state and local governments have no ability to regulate ra...
Click here for full text