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
         
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        |ASSEMBLY: |53-23|(May 29, 2013)  |SENATE: |28-4 |(August 25, 2014)    |
        |          |     |                |        |     |                     |
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        |COMMITTEE VOTE:  |6-0  |(August 29, 2014)   |RECOMMENDATION: |concur    |
        |(E.S. & T.M.)    |     |                    |                |          |
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        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)      |                     |
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        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             


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