BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 380 Page A ( Without Reference to File ) CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 380 (Dickinson) As Amended August 21, 2014 Majority vote ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |53-23|(May 29, 2013) |SENATE: |28-4 |(August 25, 2014) | | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |COMMITTEE VOTE: |6-0 |(August 29, 2014) |RECOMMENDATION: |concur | |(E.S. & T.M.) | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Original Committee Reference: NAT. RES. SUMMARY : Requires rail carriers to submit specific information regarding the transport of hazardous materials and Bakken oil to the Office of Emergency Services (OES) for the purposes of emergency response planning. The Senate amendments delete the Assembly version of this bill, and instead: 1)Require, no later than January 31, 2015, and every three months thereafter, a rail carrier to prepare and submit to OES commodity flow data for the prior three months broken down by county and track route relevant to the 25 largest hazardous material commodities transported through the state, including tank cars loaded with oil cargo. 2)Beginning January 31, 2015, requires a rail carrier to prospectively estimate and submit to OES notification of the weekly movements of trains through a county, including, but not limited to, track route and volumes of shipments of Bakken oil in amounts equal to or greater than one million gallons per train consist. Defines "Bakken oil" as "petroleum crude oil, Class 3, sourced from the Bakken shale formation in the Williston Basin," which is located in eastern Montana, western North Dakota, South Dakota, and southern Saskatchewan. Requires a rail carrier to update the notification, as specified. AB 380 Page B 3)Require OES to disseminate information necessary for developing emergency response plans from the reports to a certified unified program agency (CUPA) when OES determines a CUPA area of responsibility may be impacted by a hazardous material or oil cargo spill. 4)Require each rail carrier to maintain a response management communications center, which is required to provide real-time information to an authorized public safety answering point or 911 emergency response center about the train consist involved in a hazardous material, or oil cargo spill, or other critical incident. 5)Require each rail carrier to provide OES with a summary of the rail carrier's hazardous materials emergency response plan (Summary). Prohibits the rail carrier's hazardous materials emergency response plan from being posted on a public Internet Web site or subject to public agency or public review and approval processes. Requires OES to provide a copy of each Summary to each CUPA when OES determines a CUPA area of responsibility may be impacted by a rail carrier spill of hazardous material or oil cargo. 6)Require disclosure and dissemination of information in the hazardous material rail reports to assist with emergency response planning. EXISTING LAW : 1)Pursuant to federal law, requires each state to have a State Emergency Response Commission (SERC) to coordinate and supervise federal programs related to hazardous material emergencies and ensure public availability of appropriate chemical information. (OES is the chair of the California SERC.) Pursuant to state law, requires OES to assist local governments in their emergency preparedness, response, recovery, and hazard mitigation efforts. 2)Pursuant to federal law, requires that laws related to railroad safety be nationally uniform "to the extent practicable" and allow the state to adopt an additional or more stringent law under certain conditions when not preempted by the federal act. 3)Pursuant to a United States (U.S.) Department of Transportation order, requires each railroad carrier provide the SERC for each state in which it operates trains transporting one million AB 380 Page C gallons or more of Bakken crude oil, notification regarding the expected movement of such trains through the counties in the state. AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY, this bill established uniform procedures for electronic posting of California Environmental Quality Act documents by county clerks and the Office of Planning and Research. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, minor and absorbable costs to the General Fund for OES to review and disseminate appropriate information to unified program agencies. COMMENTS : This bill was substantially amended in the Senate and the Assembly approved provisions of this bill were deleted. Need for this bill: According to the author, "AB 380 will ensure state and local emergency response agencies are best prepared to respond to a rail mishap when rail cargo consists of hazardous materials including crude oil. The bill will require railroads to report to the state Office of Emergency Services (OES), information about hazardous materials including crude oil related cargo transported in this state by a rail carrier. Rail carriers shall also provide their Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Plans to OES. The bill would also require rail carriers to maintain a live 24 hour communications line which local '911' emergency response dispatchers can contact to obtain information about hazardous cargo, including crude oil, being transported on a train which has experienced a critical incident, such as a derailment. Finally, AB 380 would specify the information about hazardous material and crude oil cargo be disseminated to local emergency response agencies including their hazardous material response plans." There has been a dramatic increase in the amount of oil transported by rail in the country: U.S. freight railroads carried more than 400,000 carloads (or 280 million barrels) of crude oil in 2013, compared to just 9,500 carloads (or 6.65 million barrels) in 2011. The hydraulic fracturing boom in other areas of the country, particularly North Dakota with its Bakken oil shale formation, has been a major reason for the increase. Linked to this rise in crude-by-rail has been an increase in oil spills. In 2013, the country experienced more oil spilled from trains than in the previous 37 years combined. Moreover, in the AB 380 Page D last year, there have been several major crude-by-rail accidents in Canada and the U.S. that illustrate how vulnerable the environment and public are to these types of events. One of the most serious accidents was the Lac-Mégantic derailment that occurred in the town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec on July 6, 2013. In this accident, a 74-car freight train carrying crude oil from the Bakken formation derailed in the downtown area, killing 47 people and destroying more than 30 buildings when multiple tank cars exploded and burned. In addition, the Chaudière River was contaminated by 26,000 gallons of crude oil. Most recently, on April 30, 2014, in downtown Lynchburg, Virginia, a train carrying crude oil derailed and burst into flames, with several tank cars spilling into the James River and releasing 30,000 gallons of oil. The resulting fire and spill prompted the city manager to declare an emergency and temporarily evacuate part of downtown. There have been six other major crude-by-rail accidents in the last year, including the December 30, 2013, derailment in North Dakota (which spilled 400,000 gallons, ignited a fire, caused the evacuation of 1,400 people, and led to $8 million in damages) and the November 8, 2013, derailment in Alabama (which spilled oil into wetlands, caused a large fire, and led to $3.9 million in damages). According to the California Energy Commission, California is already experiencing the effects of increased crude-by-rail transportation due to the North American hydraulic fracturing boom. In 2012, California moved 1.1 million barrels of oil by rail; in 2013, that number rose to more than six million, with a significant amount coming from North Dakota. For the first six months of 2014, crude-by-rail numbers were up 66.1% compared to the first six months of 2013 (3.1 million barrels versus 1.9 million barrels). There currently are at least a half dozen planned infrastructure projects statewide that would facilitate greatly expanded oil by rail shipments, either refinery expansions and retrofits allowing for processing of more imported oil, such as from the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota, or expansion of rail terminal facilities.<1> ----------------------------------------------------------------- | Location | Facility | Rail Car Volume | |---------------------+---------------------+---------------------| ------------------------------ <1> Interagency Rail Safety Working Group, Oil by Rail Safety in California: Preliminary Findings and Recommendations State of California , June 10, 2014. AB 380 Page E | Bakersfield | Plains All American | 90 cars per day | | |(under construction) | | |---------------------+---------------------+---------------------| | Pittsburg | WesPac Energy | 70 cars per day | | | Project (planned) | | |---------------------+---------------------+---------------------| | Benicia | Valero (planned) | 100 cars per day | |---------------------+---------------------+---------------------| | Bakersfield | Alon (planned) | 200 cars per day | |---------------------+---------------------+---------------------| | Wilmington | Valero (planned) | 85 cars per day | |---------------------+---------------------+---------------------| | Santa Maria | Phillips 66 | | | | (planned) | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Supporters of this bill, include League of California Cities, have pointed out the need for coordination in light of the increased number of oil spills in California since 2013, triggered in part by the dramatic increase in the transport of petroleum oil and other hazardous substances by rail. This measure helps to address a significant deficiency in local agency emergency preparedness in regard to accidents involving hazardous materials, specifically spills and other accidents associated with the transportation of petroleum oil by rail. Opponents of this bill, including the California Sierra Club, are concerned that the limitation on public disclosure of rail safety data will impose new restrictions on the public's ability to access information needed to protect people, communities, and the environment. Analysis Prepared by : Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 319-3965 FN: 0005553