BILL NUMBER: AJR 42 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Dodd
JUNE 1, 2016
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.