BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
Senator Isadore Hall, III
Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 22 Hearing Date: 7/14/2015
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|Author: |Rodriguez |
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|Version: |5/14/2015 Amended |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Felipe Lopez |
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SUBJECT: Office of Emergency Services: oil-by-rail spills:
firefighters
DIGEST: This bill requires, upon a specified appropriation by
the Legislature, the Curriculum Development Advisory Committee
(CDAC) to review the curriculum and courses of instructions
offered to train firefighters in response methods for
oil-by-rail spills. The bill also requires the Office of
Emergency Services (OES) to compile a list of those curriculum
and courses of instruction and make that list available to all
fire departments.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Establishes OES within the Office of the Governor and under
the supervision of the Director of Emergency Services.
2)Provides that OES is responsible for the state's emergency and
disaster response services for natural, technological, or
manmade disasters and emergencies.
3)Requires OES to serve as the central point of state government
for the emergency reporting of spills, unauthorized releases,
or other accidental releases of hazardous materials and to
coordinate the notification of the appropriate state and local
administering agencies that may be required to respond to
AB 22 (Rodriguez) Page 2 of ?
those spills.
4)Establishes the Curriculum Development Advisory Committee
(CDAC) to provide advice on the development of specified
course curricula and response training.
This bill:
1)Requires, upon a specified appropriation by the Legislature,
the CDAC to review the curriculum and courses of instruction
offered by public and private programs that train firefighters
in response methods for oil-by-rail spills.
2)Requires OES to compile a list of those curriculum and courses
of instructions, make the list available to all fire
departments, and facilitate and encourage fire departments to
send firefighters for that training.
3)Requires OES to establish a program to reimburse fire
departments for costs incurred by those departments in sending
firefighters to training.
4)Provides that fire departments may also receive a per diem of
one hundred dollars ($100) per volunteer firefighter, upon
application, to be paid to a volunteer firefighter who attends
such training.
5)Makes legislative findings and declarations.
Background
Purpose of the bill. According to the author, "on July 31,
2014, the Assembly Select Committee on Local Emergency
Preparedness convened an informational hearing to collect
testimony on how well our local communities and first responders
are being trained and equipped to respond to a worst case
scenario oil spill by rail and to learn what California can do
to help them be prepared. The Committee found that many small
and medium sized fire departments do not have the budget funds
available to send firefighters for training even if the costs of
that training are subsidized or paid for with grants or other
assistance."
The author argues that "this often occurs because when a
firefighter is sent for training, another off duty firefighter
AB 22 (Rodriguez) Page 3 of ?
must be called in to cover the shift to maintain coverage for
services. This requires paying the firefighter his salary
during his training and also paying an off duty firefighter to
cover the shift."
Transportation of Oil by Rail. The transportation of oil by
rail in California has dramatically increased in the past
several years. In 2012, about 70% of oil imported by California
refineries came through marine terminals and only about .3%
arrived by rail. The following year, crude oil imports by rail
jumped approximately 500% or about 1% of total imports. Many
experts, including the California Energy Commission estimates
that oil-by-rail imports might increase to 25% of total imports
by 2016. This trend in California has been similar to
oil-by-rail shipments nationally, especially in response to
increases in production of oil from Bakken shale formation.
Bakken Oil is high-quality, light, sweet crude, making it more
valuable and economically competitive that some of the other
domestic crude oils. It is precisely because this crude oil is
so energy dense that it is both valuable and hazardous. Its
light nature and high density, under the right circumstances,
makes it volatile, highly flammable, and toxic. Because crude
oil trains travel through some of the state's most densely
populated areas, as well as some of the most sensitive
ecological areas, oil-by-rail spills are particularly dangerous.
While transporting oil-by-rail costs about twice as much as
transportation by pipeline, oil-by-rail is faster and offers
greater flexibility. This flexibility allows companies to take
advantage of price differentials across the United States.
Federal law governs most major aspects of rail transport, and
preempts most state regulation. The principal agency
responsible for promulgating and enforcing the safety of rail
shipments of crude oil is the Department of Transportation
(DOT), and specifically within DOT: the Federal Railroad
Administration (FRA) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration (PHMSA).
At the state level, the California Public Utilities Commission
(CPUC) shares authority with the federal government to enforce
federal rail safety requirements, and also has authority to
enforce state safety rules. The CPUC is also a participant in
federal rulemaking efforts, including through the FRA's Railroad
Safety Advisory Committee.
AB 22 (Rodriguez) Page 4 of ?
Various state agencies engage in prevention, planning, emergency
response, and cleanup activities applicable to oil-by-rail,
including OES, the State Fire Marshal (SFM), California
Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), and the Office of
Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR). These state agencies are
all beginning to prepare for the heightened risks posed by
oil-by-rail.
Accidents and Risks of Oil by Rail Transport. As oil by rail
transport has increased in recent years, there has also been a
dramatic increase in the number of accidents that involve crude
by rail. According to a June 10, 2014 report by the California
Interagency Rail Safety Working Group, more crude oil by volume
was spilled in rail incidents in 2013 than was spilled in the
nearly four decades prior. In addition, according to the
report, incidents involving oil by rail in California increased
from 3 in 2011 to 25 in 2013. Most reported incidents involved
a relatively small volume of oil released, but the potential for
high-consequences incidents will increase as more oil is
transported by rail. For example, the largest and most tragic
accident occurred on July 2013 in Lac-Megantic, Quebec where 63
tanks of crude oil exploded killing 47 people. In 2013 and 2014
there were eight major accidents in North America. The causes
of these accidents vary, but they have included track failures,
inadequate rail car equipment, and human error.
Oil-by-Rail Routes in California. In California, trains
transporting crude oil are expected to travel via the Feather
River or Donner Pass to the Bay Area, the Tehachapi Pass to
Bakersfield, or into Los Angeles. Thus, they will travel
through some of California's most densely populated areas, as
well as some of the most sensitive ecological eco systems.
Prior/Related Legislation
AB 380 (Dickinson, Chapter 533, Statutes of 2014) required rail
carriers to submit specified information regarding the transport
of hazardous materials and Bakken oil to OES for the purposes of
emergency response planning.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.: Yes Local: No
AB 22 (Rodriguez) Page 5 of ?
SUPPORT:
California State Firefighter's Association
City of Burbank
City of Indian Wells
City of Long Beach
City of Sacramento
City of Santa Barbara
City of Thousand Oaks
Greater Merced Chamber of Commerce
League of California Cities
OPPOSITION:
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the City of Long Beach,
"existing law provides rail-transported oil spill response
training at the expense of fire departments. AB 22 sensibly
establishes guidelines that reduce disparities in training and
equipment for oil-by-rail spills among fire departments.
Providing fire departments with the necessary resources not only
improves response methods, but lessens the impact of oil-by-rail
accidents in some of the state's most densely populated areas."