S 844 Introduced

Hazardous Train Event

Last month, Sen Casey (D,PA) introduced S 844, the Assistance for Local Heroes During Train Crises Act. The bill would establish the Hazardous Train Event Emergency Reimbursement Fund which would provide funds to emergency response personnel in the event of a newly defined ‘Hazardous Train Event’. The monies for the fund would come from a levy on hazardous materials rail shippers and railroads. No other funding is authorized.

The bill would add a new §20904, Hazardous Train Events, to 49 USC. It would also amend 49 USC §5108(g).

Definitions

The new §20904(a) provides the definitions of four key terms used in that Section. The one technical term of interest here is ‘hazardous train event’.

Hazardous Train Event Declaration

Section 20904(b) would authorize the Federal Railroad Administration to “declare that a hazardous train event has occurred not later than 3 days after the occurrence of a train derailment, train crash, or other incident involving a train carrying hazardous materials, hazardous waste, or other materials that pose a threat to public health, safety, and the environment, as determined by the Administrator.” Such a declaration would require the FRA to ‘immediately’ award to an eligible entity $250,000 from the Hazardous Train Event Emergency Reimbursement Fund established by §20904(c). Subsequent awards of up to $3 million per hazardous train event would be authorized to be awarded from the Fund.

Funds awarded under this new section would be authorized to be used for:

• The cost of replacing equipment that is damaged, contaminated, or otherwise rendered unusable as a result of the response of the eligible entity to a hazardous train event,

• Overtime pay for firefighters, law enforcement officers, or other emergency responders who work at the scene of a hazardous train event,

• Operational costs for actions taken to respond to a hazardous train event, and

• Any other purpose related to a hazardous train event, as determined by the Administrator.

Rail Hazmat Assessment

Section 4 of the bill would amend §5108(g) by adding a new paragraph (4) which would require FRA to “prescribe a schedule of annual fees for shippers and carriers of hazardous materials by rail” to fund the Hazardous Train Event Emergency Reimbursement Fund. The fee schedule would be required to provide at least $10 million per year.

Subsection (g) currently requires DOT to assess fees to support the Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness Fund. This bill would separately add the hazmat rail assessment to support the new fund.

Moving Forward

Casey is not a member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration, nor are his two cosponsors. This means that it is unlikely that there will be enough influence to see this considered in Committee. The shipper and railroad fees to support the Fund will ensure that railroads and chemical manufacturers will oppose this bill. If the bill were considered in Committee, it may pass along partisan lines, but it will not have enough support to be considered by the full Senate.