BILL ANALYSIS �
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-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).
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>
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| 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
FN: 0005553