BILL ANALYSIS 1
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SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
MARTHA M. ESCUTIA, CHAIRWOMAN
SB 578 - Escutia Hearing Date:
April 5, 2005 S
As Introduced: February 18, 2005 FISCAL B
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DESCRIPTION
Current law requires railroads to annually submit to the Office
of Emergency Services (OES) emergency handling guidelines for
the transportation of hazardous materials.
Current law requires railroads, if there is a train incident
resulting in a release of hazardous material, or an overturned
car or an impact that threatens a release of hazardous material,
to provide the emergency response agency with:
A list of each car in the train and the order of the
cars
The contents of each car
Identification of the cars and contents in the train
involved in the incident
Emergency handling procedures for the hazardous material
involved
Current law requires railroads to promptly notify OES if there
is a runaway train or any other uncontrolled train movement that
threatens public health and safety.
This bill requires railroads, if there is a runaway train or any
other uncontrolled train movement that threatens public health
and safety and that train contains railcars carrying hazardous
materials, to include in their OES notification the same
information that would be required if there were a train
incident that released hazardous material.
This bill requires the California Public Utilities Commisson's
consumer protection and safety division to investigate any
runaway train or uncontrolled train movement that involves any
railcar containing hazardous material and to report its findings
to the Commission.
BACKGROUND
On June 20, 2003 31 cars of a Union Pacific (UP) freight train
escaped from a rail yard in Montclair, rolling uncontrolled
through Pomona and reaching speeds of up to 86 mph. Twenty five
minutes after breaking free, and 28 miles down the tracks, the
cars were intentionally derailed in the City of Commerce
destroying two homes, damaging several more, but causing no loss
of life. This accident was the catalyst for a state law
requiring railroads to notify OES of any uncontrolled train
movement that threatens public health and safety. This bill
expands this requirement to those instances where there is any
uncontrolled train movement involving railcars carrying
hazardous materials. Such notification shall include the list
of railcars, their contents, and emergency handling procedures
for the hazardous materials in those railcars.
Federal regulations require railcars carrying specified
hazardous materials to carry external warning placards. These
placards, required on both ends of the railcar, identify the
class of hazard (e.g. explosives, toxic materials, radioactive).
The federal Department of Homeland Security is concerned that
the placards will help terrorists find targets. DHS has
therefore proposed eliminating the placard requirement, making
it much more difficult for terrorists to identify targets but
also making it harder for public safety agencies to identify and
properly respond to hazardous material spills.
This has been a bad year for train accidents. In January 2005 a
train accident in South Carolina resulted in a chlorine gas
spill. That accident killed nine, injured hundreds and led to
the evacuation of 5,400. Also in January, a train accident in
Glendale killed 11 and hospitalized over 200.
COMMENTS
Technical amendment - The author and committee may wish to
consider substituting the phrase "hazardous material" for
"hazardous substance" as hazardous material is already defined
in the article.
POSITIONS
Sponsor:
Author
Support:
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
Oppose:
None on file
Randy Chinn
SB 578 Analysis
Hearing Date: April 5, 2005