According to the American Association of Railroads, the number of railcars carrying crude oil on major freight railroads in the U.S. grew by more than 6,000 percent between 2007 and 2013. Due to the potential risks of a derailment associated with increased crude oil transported by rail in North Dakota and across the country, there is a need to bolster the training, coordination and capability of our Nation’s first responders to hazmat incidents that may occur on the national rail system.
We know that many big cities, states and the Federal government have training, capability and resources to respond to a hazmat incident on our railways. However, for the first few hours, the closest response is frequently from our small-town fire chiefs, police officers and medical personnel. We saw this very clearly in December 2013 during the derailment of a train carrying crude oil near Casselton, North Dakota – a town of nearly 2,500 people. The Casselton firefighters were the first to respond. Many of these small towns exist because of the historical expansion of the national rail network.
Less than five years ago, a small number of oil cars were mixed in with other commodities on trains traveling through these communities a few times per day, mitigating the risk of a significant incident. Now, given the energy boom in North Dakota and the heavy reliance on rail as a mode of transportation, these small communities are seeing up to nine trains come through per day with more than 100 linked crude oil cars per train. We must provide our small cities and local first responders with proper training and resources so that, if needed, they can respond appropriately to derailments, spills, and other dangerous situations resulting from a crude-by-rail or hazardous material derailment in their communities.
Senator Heidi Heitkamp’s RESPONSE Act of 2014 would establish a subcommittee under FEMA’s National Advisory Council to address these issues. The RESPONSE Subcommittee would be tasked with bringing together all the relevant agencies, emergency responders, technical experts and the private sector for a review of training, resources, best practices and unmet needs related to emergency responders to railroad hazmat incidents. All flammable hazmat response to railroad incidents would be within the scope of the Subcommittee, but given the potential increased risk associated with a derailment involving delivery of crude oil, a particular focus on crude oil transport by rail is important.
Upon formation, the Subcommittee would provide recommendations to Congress within 12 months on emergency responder training and resource allocation. These include addressing:
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Quality and application of training for local emergency first responders related to rail hazardous materials incidents, with a particular focus on local emergency responders and small communities near railroads;
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Effectiveness of funding levels related to training local emergency responders for rail hazardous materials incidents, with a particular focus on local emergency responders and small communities;
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Strategy for integration of commodity flow studies, mapping, and access platforms for local emergency responders and how to increase the rate of access to the individual responder in existing or emerging communications technology;
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The lack of emergency response plans for rail, similar to existing law related to maritime and stationary facility emergency response plans;
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Development of a train incident database; and
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The need to increase access to relevant, useful, and timely information for the local emergency responders.
The County's Hazardous Materials Programs Director, Randy Sawyer, has reviewed the bill and indicates that "the results of this study can be useful and beneficial."
The bill was introduced in the Senate on June 26, 2014. It was due to be "marked up" on July 30 at Senate Homeland Security Committee but was cancelled because of a proposed Republican amendment on Keystone. Our federal lobbyists recommends that we consider a position of support on the bill and request our senators co-sponsor the bill.
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