HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry and 12 of her counterparts have indicated their support for a rule requiring railroads to make hazardous-material information available to first responders, and are calling for the rule to be expanded to strengthen aspects of its communications requirements.
Henry said in a Friday press release that the 13 attorneys general have written a letter supporting the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s “Hazardous Materials: FAST Act Requirements for Real-Time Train Consist Information” rule proposal, which mandates making hazardous-material information available in electronic form. It would require that information to be available in real time; to identify the point of origin and destination for hazardous materials; to identify the railroad’s emergency contact person; to provide train consist information to first responders along train routes, so they have necessary information before an emergency occurs; and to send an emergency-response notification including train consist information to all first responders within a 10-mile radius.
The group is also asking for four additions to the rule, requiring railroads:
— To create a data depository for electronic train consist information;
— To coordinate with the appropriate state agencies to account for state-specific needs;
— To periodically test their electronic communications tools and report the results to the PHMSA;
— And to develop contingency plans for when electronic train consist information is unavailable or not accessible.
Henry cites the Feb. 3 East Palestine, Ohio, derailment and toxic chemical release as illustrating the need for such rules, noting that firefighters were at the scene for roughly 45 minutes before being able to identify the chemicals involved in the incident.
The full 24-page letter is available here. Other attorneys general supporting the rule are from Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
— Corrected at 1:15 p.m. CDT to note Henry is Attorney General of Pennsylvania.
I don’t understand why the wait to find out the HAZMAT on the train. The train Conductor should have this information with him/her.
How about putting all HAZMAT shipments on trucks instead? That should make the AG’s happy.
Did you read the letterhead? When I read the article I could not believe Pennsylvania was not one of the states signatory to this letter. After all the derailment involved the state of Pennsylvania. The photo attached to the article shows the accident which happened on the state line.
Michelle Henry is the AG for the State of Pennsylvania, NOT OHIO! A faux pas such as this can cause someone to question the truthfulness of this article. C’mon, Trains.com!
Truly a bad mistake, and now corrected. My apologies.
Compare the photo accompanying this posting with the photo supposedly depicting the derailment site accompanying the preceding posting entitled “Norfolk Southern concludes removal . . .” The one accompanying the preceding posting is almost certainly erroneous.