BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 380
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 380 (Dickinson)
As Amended August 21, 2014
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: | |(May 29, 2013) |SENATE: |28-4 |(August 25, |
| | | | | |2014) |
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(vote not relevant)
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)Requires, 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.
3)Requires OES to disseminate information necessary for
developing emergency response plans from the reports prepared
pursuant to 1) and 2) above, to a certified unified program
agency (CUPA) when OES determines a CUPA area of
responsibility may be impacted by a hazardous material or oil
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cargo spill.
4)Requires 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)Requires 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)Requires disclosure and dissemination of information in the
reports prepared pursuant to 1) and 2) above, 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,
recover, 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 1 million gallons or more of Bakken crude oil,
notification regarding the expected movement of such trains
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through the counties in the state.
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 : 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.
Recently, 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. Furthermore, the flexibility and economics of rail
transport as compared to new pipeline construction (including
Keystone XL) have made crude-by-rail an attractive option: as
much as 90% of North Dakota's crude is expected to move by
freight rail in 2014.
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,
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in the 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-M�gantic derailment that
occurred in the town of Lac-M�gantic, 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 Chaudi�re 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).
California is already experiencing the effects of increased
crude-by-rail transportation due to the North American hydraulic
fracturing boom. In 2011, California moved less than 2 million
barrels of oil by rail; in 2013, that number rose to more than 6
million, with a significant amount coming from North Dakota.
For the first quarter of 2014, crude-by-rail numbers were up 104
percent compared to the first quarter of 2013 (1,414,418 barrels
versus 693,457 barrels).
There are currently at least five crude-by-rail refinery
projects being pursued in California: one in Pittsburg, one in
Benicia, two in Bakersfield, and one in Wilmington. According
to the California Energy Commission, if all are constructed and
operated at full capacity, the amount of crude oil being
imported via rail cars could rise to 150 million barrels, or 25%
of total imports, by 2016.
Many of California's rail lines pass over or near bodies of
water and through high density population centers.
Crude-by-rail also presents risks that may be particularly
relevant to environmental justice communities situated near oil
refineries and offloading terminals. Communities in more remote
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areas may have fewer skilled emergency response personnel.
Since much of the oil transported by rail into California comes
from North Dakota's Bakken region, it should be noted that the
federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
issued a safety alert in January 2014 indicating that the type
of crude oil being transported from the Bakken region "may be
more flammable than traditional heavy crude oil."
Analysis Prepared by : Mario DeBernardo / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092
FN: 0005456