BILL NUMBER: AJR 42 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 8, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 30, 2016
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)
( Coauthor: Senator Wolk
)
JUNE 1, 2016
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 critical
public safety improvements for measures
regulating the transport by rail of those liquids.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, In the past decade, there has been an unprecedented
increase in transportation the transport
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, 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
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
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
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
enforcement of rail industry compliance with United States
Department of Transportation emergency orders specifying
regulations requiring that state and local
emergency officials be notified of large crude oil-by-rail shipments;
(2) the stripping development by rail
companies of more robust emergency response plans, and removal
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 the critical
public safety improvements, including those described
measures described in the federal Crude-By-Rail
Safety Act (H.R. 1804), which was (H.R. 1804)
cosponsored by Congressman Mike Thompson, and H.R.
1679, which was sponsored by Congressman John Garamendi;
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; 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.