Recently released oil train safety regulations could undermine transparency efforts at the national level, but Washington state officials are hoping a new state law will ensure access to information about volatile Bakken crude oil moving through the region.
The new federal rules end the practice of railroads’ notifying state agencies and instead puts the burden on first responders to request the information from “fusion centers,” which were created by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to share information. It’s expected to complicate the process of obtaining information.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., joined with other senators in urging the U.S. Department of Transportation to strengthen disclosure requirements.
“We call upon you to issue an Emergency Order that improves the process for providing detailed information on crude-by-rail movements and volumes to first responders, shifts the onus for information sharing onto the railroads and not communities, and allows for the continued public availability of broader crude-by-rail data on movements and routes,” the senators wrote.
The recently passed state measure, House Bill 1449, which is expected to be signed into law next week, would require oil refineries to share information about type of oil and volume with both the state’s Department of Ecology and first responders. The information would be available in aggregate form for the public on a quarterly basis.
“The good news is, one of the very tricky things about state regulations is of course, the federal preemption issue, but we targeted the notification piece of our legislation at the oil refineries,” said Rep. Jessyn Farrell, D-Seattle.
“I’m not concerned federal rule will undermine that,” Farrell said, adding it was part of why the state “focused on refineries.”
Railroads must give refineries details about the volume of the load and the type of oil. Unlike railroads, which are regulated for the most part at the federal level, refineries must abide by state law.
“(Railroads) have to report to refineries, it’s a product that’s getting delivered and the refineries are buying the product,” Farrell said, likening it to a grocery store’s preparing to receive a delivery.
The information from refineries would be used to give advance notice to first responders about the volume of oil, number of cars and type of oil that is about to travel through the state.
Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver, said the new U.S. Department of Transportation regulations are a step backward; she said oil-by-rail safety will be an ongoing issue of concern.
She called the disclosure requirements recently passed at the state level one of the most “hard-fought provisions” in the Legislature in the past two legislative sessions.
“The highest possible means of oil transportation safety is in all our best interests as a community, as a state, and as a country. We have many more ways in which we can improve oil transportation safety, however, our state legislation is a step in the right direction to providing local first responders with critical information,” Cleveland said in an email.
