HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 12/03/2013 - RESOLUTION 2013-102 SUPPORTING THE RETROFIT OF EXIAgenda Item 19
Item # 19 Page 1
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY December 3, 2013
City Council
STAFF
Dan Weinheimer, Policy & Project Manager
Pamela Weir, Graduate Management Assistant
SUBJECT
Resolution 2013-102 Supporting the Retrofit of Existing DOT-111 Rail Tank Cars That Transport Packing
Groups I and II Hazmat Before the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The purpose of this item is to allow City Council to provide input to a federal Department of Transportation
rulemaking. Passage of the underlying resolution would indicate the Fort Collins City Council support of
the National Transportation Safety Board recommendation requiring railroads retrofit tank cars to address
known safety defects and to provide local governments more knowledge of the hazardous materials being
transported through their communities.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends adoption of the Resolution.
BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION
High-profile train derailments in Canada have demonstrated a need to improve the notice provided to
local government of the materials being transported and to address design defects in the main rail car
used to transport hazardous materials.
The Village of Barrington, IL and the Illinois-based TRAC Coalition jointly filed a petition on April 3, 2012
with the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
(PHMSA) asking that agency to promulgate safety rules for new and existing DOT Specification 111 tank
cars. These tanker cars are primarily use to carry ethanol and crude oil.
The National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) investigation of a June 2009 Canadian National
Railway (CN) freight train accident outside of Rockford, Illinois, found that the train derailment caused
many of the 74 DOT-111 cars of ethanol to split open and started a massive fire, killing one person and
injuring nine others. The more recent July 6, 2013 catastrophic derailment of a train carrying 72 tank cars
of crude oil in Lac-Megantic, Canada that caused 47 deaths also involved the DOT-111 tank cars.
Since 1991, federal regulators have known that DOT-111 tank cars have high failure rates in accidents
and puncture easily. Today, production and transportation of oil is on the rise in the United States and
DOT-111 cars make up 69 percent of the current American rail tank car fleet. In 2011 the federal
government adopted upgraded safety standards for newly manufactured DOT-111 tank cars requiring
thicker steel shells, improved valve coverings, and end shields to prevent punctures. According to the
Association of American Railroads (AAR), about 25 percent of the cars that carry crude oil now meet the
higher standards. The Renewable Fuels Association says industry would prefer to replace older cars by
attrition. However, these cars can have a life span of over 30 years, meaning that trains would still carry
the defective DOT-111 cars for decades, making the limited safety upgrades ineffective.
Agenda Item 19
Item # 19 Page 2
PHMSA is now considering revisions to the Hazardous Materials Regulations based on petitions received
from cities, railroad associations, regulated fuel and chemical organizations, and NTSB recommendations
and is seeking input from local governments regarding its proposed rulemaking. In short, the petition calls
for PHMSA to adopt AAR standards for DOT-111 tank cars and mandate retrofitted safety upgrades to all
DOT-111 to meet these new safety standards.
In addition, the petition requests PHMSA to adopt the NTSB recommendation that railroads be required to
immediately provide accurate, real-time information regarding the identity and location of hazardous
materials on a train to emergency responders in the event of an accident or derailment. Currently, this
information is stored in hard-copy with the train engineer and is often destroyed or lost in an accident or
derailment. The petition asks PHMSA to move forward with implementing its Hazardous Materials
Automated Cargo Communications for Efficient and Safe Shipments (HM-ACCESS) and enforce the
regulations stemming from the initiative with a system of random audits to promote compliance.
Trains carrying hazardous materials including crude oil and ethanol regularly travel through Fort Collins.
The likelihood of a derailment in Fort Collins may be low, but the trains travel in close proximity to high-
density population centers in the community.
PHMSA released its notice of proposed rulemaking on September 6, 2013 and is seeking input from local
governments until December 5, 2013. Upon adoption, the Resolution will be submitted to the Federal
Rulemaking Portal to assure the Fort Collins City Council comments are included in the rulemaking.
FINANCIAL / ECONOMIC IMPACT
Adoption of this Resolution is not expected to have a financial impact to the City.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
While unlikely in Fort Collins, a train derailment could have catastrophic consequences. Older DOT-111
tank cars have split open upon derailment causing great environmental impact. The NTSB
recommendation supported by this Resolution would make rail tank cars safer sooner by requiring
retrofits rather than relying on what could be decades long phasing out of the older tank cars.
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RESOLUTION 2013-102
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
SUPPORTING THE RETROFIT OF EXISTING DOT-111 RAIL TANK CARS
THAT TRANSPORT PACKING GROUPS I AND II HAZMAT
BEFORE THE PIPELINES AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS SAFETY ADMINISTRATION
WHEREAS, rail freight operations impact thousands of villages, towns, cities and
counties across all regions of the United States of America; and
WHEREAS, safe rail operations are of critical interest to local units of government based
on: (1) the need to prevent catastrophic accidents like the one that occurred in Lac-Megantic,
Canada in July 2013; (2) the responsibility local governments have to provide emergency
response units to manage the impact of rail accidents and derailments in communities across the
country; and (3) the significant costs associated with clean-up, environmental remediation,
medical expenses, other personal injury damages or wrongful death claims for community
residents that have the potential to surpass the rail industry’s ability to pay for them; and
WHEREAS, ethanol and crude oil are a large and exponentially growing segment of
hazardous materials being shipped across the nation via freight rail, which will continue to be a
preferred transport mode of choice for this hazmat; and
WHEREAS, since 1991, it has been known to industry and federal regulators that there
are safety-related defects in the DOT-111 tank car that serves as the primary tank car used in the
shipping of these hazardous flammable materials via freight rail; and
WHEREAS, the federal Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
(PHMSA) regulates the safe transport of hazardous materials by railroads in the United States;
and
WHEREAS, the business decisions of railroad companies and hazardous material
shippers impact the safety, environment, and emergency response system in the communities in
which the freight railroads traverse, but state and local governments have no ability to regulate
railroad operations; and
WHEREAS, industry has failed to act in the last two decades to correct the known
defects in DOT-111 tank cars, and has waited until 2011 to seek government approval to upgrade
safety standards for newly manufactured DOT-111 tank cars; and
WHEREAS, a tank car expert from the National Transportation Safety Board testified in
2012 that a retrofit of existing tank cars is necessary because co-mingling existing unsafe DOT-
111 tank cars with newly manufactured ones “does nothing to improve the safety in an accident”;
and
WHEREAS, the petition for rulemaking submitted to PHMSA on April 3, 2012 by
Barrington, Illinois and the Illinois TRAC Coalition reflects the point of view of local
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governments, which is supported by recommendations of the National Transportation Safety
Board, that changes are needed in federal regulations and/or law to better protect public safety
relative to DOT-111 tank car safety and train consist dissemination; and
WHEREAS, the April 3, 2012 petition provides a compelling rationale for making long
overdue changes in safe rail operations vis-a-vis retrofitting existing DOT-111 tank cars; and
WHEREAS, the April 3, 2012 petition demonstrates that the cost of a DOT-111 tank car
fleet retrofit for existing cars would be of nominal expense over the remaining average thirty-
year lifespan for the existing fleet, and
WHEREAS, PHMSA issued on September 6, 2013 (78 Federal Register 54849-54861)
an Advance Notice of Rulemaking seeking by November 5, 2013 the input from local and state
governments on the issue of retrofitting the DOT-111 tank car.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
FORT COLLINS as follows:
Section 1. That the City Council hereby supports the April 3, 2012 petition of
Barrington, Illinois and the Illinois TRAC Coalition seeking new regulations to retrofit existing
DOT-111 tank cars used to transport Groups I and II Packing Materials.
Section 2. That this Resolution shall be sent to the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration in Docket No. PHMSA-2012-0082 (HM-251) urging expeditious action
on the joint Barrington and Illinois TRAC Coalition April 3, 2012 Petition No. P-1587.
Passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the Council of the City of Fort Collins this 3rd
day of December, A.D. 2013.
____________________________________
Mayor
ATTEST:
________________________________
City Clerk