California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 42

Introduced by Assembly Member Dodd

June 1, 2016

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 42—Relative to the transport by rail of flammable and combustible liquids.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AJR 42, as introduced, Dodd. Transport by rail of flammable and combustible liquids.

This measure would urge the United States Department of Transportation, Department of Energy, and the Office of Management and Budget to expedite the rulemaking and implementation processes for federal safety regulations governing the transport by rail of flammable and combustible liquids, including crude oil, and would also urge the President and the Congress of the United States to pass specified federal legislation mandating critical public safety improvements for the transport by rail of those liquids.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, In the past decade, there has been an unprecedented
increase in transportation of crude oil in oil-by-rail cars due to the
North American oil boom, which, in combination with absent or
inadequate line infrastructure, has compromised the safety and
well-being of over 16 million Americans who live alongside
oil-by-rail shipping lines; and

WHEREAS, Transportation of crude oil and petroleum products
by rail has more than doubled nationally since the beginning of
2011, thereby requiring increased infrastructure to load and unload
tank cars transporting crude oil; and

WHEREAS, There are currently several pending plans by
refining companies in California, including one to ship up to 70,000
barrels of crude oil per day through northern California passing
through Roseville, downtown Sacramento, and Davis to a plant
on Suisun Bay, on the outskirts of Benicia; and

WHEREAS, The Sacramento Area Council of Governments
has identified the Counties of Sutter, Yuba, Placer, El Dorado,
Sacramento, and Yolo as “Potential Derailment Risk Zones” for
freight cars transporting oil to and from this refinery, and there are
many more areas that will be potentially at risk; and

WHEREAS, An environmental impact report conducted in
northern California concluded that those trains will present
significant and unavoidable risks of oil spill, environmental
damage, and potential loss of human life if any of them were to
derail while en route to the refinery; and

WHEREAS, In the Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA) (49
U.S.C. Sec. 20101 et seq.), the United States Congress directed
the Secretary of Transportation to “prescribe and issue orders for
every area of railroad safety,” whereby this federal power granted
to railroad companies preempts local and regional authority; and

WHEREAS, This preemption of state and local laws is one of
the biggest hurdles for communities that want better and stronger
safeguards for crude-by-rail shipments that will pass through their
neighborhoods; and

WHEREAS, Serious train incidents involving the transport of
crude oil are occurring on average once every seven weeks, and a
Department of Transportation report predicts that trains hauling
crude oil or ethanol will derail an average of 10 times per year
over the next two decades; and

WHEREAS, Different kinds of crude oil have different health
and safety risks, as some can be nearly impossible to clean up in
the event of a spill and others have proved exceptionally explosive,
and it is likely that the crude oil coming to a northern California
refinery could consist of different types of crude oil; and

WHEREAS, Rail tank cars, known as DOT-111 tank cars,
comprise our federal fleet of rail cars, and retrofitting is currently
in progress to make these cars safer; and

WHEREAS, There is a remote deadline by which these
DOT-111 rail cars must be upgraded, even though the cars that
are currently being used to transport crude oil have been designated
as substandard for shipping highly flammable liquids; now,
therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature respectfully urges the
United States Department of Transportation, the Department of
Energy, and the Office of Management and Budget to expedite
the rulemaking and implementation processes for federal safety
regulations governing the transport by rail of flammable and
combustible liquids, including, but not limited to, safety measures
that require the following: (1) the monitoring of rail industry
compliance with United States Department of Transportation
emergency orders specifying that state and local emergency
officials be notified of large crude oil-by-rail shipments; (2) the
stripping by producers of volatile elements, including flammable
natural gas liquids that may be present in Bakken crude oil before
it is loaded onto rail cars; (3) the rapid phase-out of United States
Department of Transportation DOT-111 tank cars from crude
oil-by-rail service; and (4) the installation of the system known as
Positive Train Control on all routes used to transport lighter crude
oils such as Bakken; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature urges the President and Congress
to pass federal legislation this year mandating critical public safety
improvements, including those described in the federal
Crude-By-Rail Safety Act (H.R. 1804), which was cosponsored
by Congressman Mike Thompson, and H.R. 1679, which was
sponsored by Congressman John Garamendi; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the President of the United States, to the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Minority Leader
of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the
Senate, to the Minority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator
and Representative from California in the Congress of the United
States.