Amended in Senate August 8, 2016

Amended in Assembly June 30, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 42

Introduced by Assembly Member Dodd

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Alejo, Atkins, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Cristina Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, and Wood)

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(Coauthor: Senator Wolk)

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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 amended, 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 begin delete critical end delete public safety begin delete improvements for end delete begin insert measures regulating end insert the transport by rail of those liquids.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, In the past decade, there has been an unprecedented
increase in begin delete end delete begin delete transportation end delete begin insert the transport end insert 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

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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

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WHEREAS, Most crude oil transported by rail in the United
States is currently carried in tank cars, known as DOT-111 tank
cars, which have been designated as substandard for shipping
highly flammable liquids; and

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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

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WHEREAS, Federal law, the Fixing America’s Surface
Transportation (FAST) Act (Pub. L. No. 114-94) requires that all
DOT-111 cars used to transport crude oil must be retrofitted to
meet new safety standards by March 2018 or be phased out; now,
therefore, be it

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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, begin delete safety measures
that require end delete the following: (1) the begin delete monitoring end delete begin insert enforcement end insert of rail
industry compliance with United States Department of
Transportation begin delete emergency orders specifying end delete begin insert regulations requiring end insert
that state and local emergency officials be notified of large crude
oil-by-rail shipments; (2) the begin delete stripping end delete begin insert development by rail
companies of more robust emergency response plans, and removal end insert
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 begin insert the end insert critical public
safety begin delete improvements, including those described end delete begin insert measures described end insert
in the federal Crude-By-Rail Safety Act begin delete (H.R. 1804), which was end delete
begin insert (H.R. 1804) end insert cosponsored by Congressman Mike Thompson, and begin delete end delete
begin delete H.R. 1679, which was sponsored by Congressman John Garamendi; end delete
begin insert the Bakken Crude Stabilization Act of 2015 (H.R. 1679) sponsored
by Congressman John Garamendi, that were not addressed in the
Fast Act, including (1) the establishment of maximum volatility
standards for crude oil transported by rail; (2) the imposition of
increased fines for violation of those standards; and (3) the
adoption of regulations by the United States Department of
Transportation requiring rail carriers to develop a confidential
close-call reporting system; end insert 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.