[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 82 (Monday, June 22, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H4881-H4882]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            HAZARDOUS MATERIALS TRANSPORTATION ON RAILROADS

  Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, this weekend was quite an eventful one in West 
Virginia in the Cabell County area where we had another hazardous 
materials derailment. This is the second one in a little over a year in 
that area.
  Happily there were no fatalities. A limited number of people were 
hospitalized briefly. A hundred families will have to be evacuated and 
most of them will be back today.
  Beginning yesterday, I was in personal contact with the National 
Transportation Safety Board team in the area, as well as the FRA. I 
have just spoken personally this morning with the National 
Transportation Safety Board team. At this point, the cause of this 
accident is still unknown. Of the roughly 150 railcars, 34 of them 
derailed, a couple of chemical tanker cars punctured, and formaldehyde 
and chlorine were released.
  Their focus is presently looking at one hopper car to see whether it 
could have had some problems, and the track is yet to be inspected in 
that area. The mechanical problems, to the extent there might have been 
some, are still to be examined.
  The good news is that the emergency response teams that arrived did 
exactly the right things. They made the decisions that needed to be 
made and evacuated the families that needed to be evacuated. Of course, 
we will continue to dig out from this for a period of time. The 
immediate concern is what happens to the groundwater. Most of the homes 
in that area are on wells and that will have to be evaluated closely.
  Mr. Speaker, it is important that this Congress deal with the problem 
of hazardous materials transportation on railroads. Indeed, legislation 
that I have introduced and that we have been trying to move I believe 
will do that, particularly in setting up regional response teams.
  Mr. Speaker, in light of the fact that this is the second hazardous 
materials accident in almost a year, I have today requested the Federal 
Railroad Administrator to perform a comprehensive review of hazardous 
materials transportation in this particular area of West Virginia.
  Mr. Speaker, we are a hazardous materials transportation corridor. We 
have a large concentration of our own chemical industry and also we are 
transporting large amounts of hazardous materials from other States and 
other regions through this area. So, it is important that we undertake 
every possible action to make sure that these railway lines are as safe 
as possible.
  There was one fatality last year in Scary, which was not anywhere 
near the same cause that caused this one. But the fact of the matter is 
that when transporting hazardous materials, we have to make sure that 
these rail lines are absolutely as safe as possible and that the 
emergency responders are as well trained as possible.
  In my request today to the Federal Railroad Administrator, I have 
asked several things. I have asked that there be a comprehensive 
review, working with CSX and the others involved. A comprehensive 
review of the safety of hazardous materials transportation in this area 
of West Virginia.
  Second, I have asked some specific questions. Is there adequate 
inspection of the cars, the tank cars, at the plant when they are being 
loaded and before they roll out, versus being transported into the 
yards and being inspected there?
  Is there adequate inspection of the track? Because if hazardous 
materials are rolling over these tracks on a regular basis, we have to 
make sure that the safest standards are maintained.

[[Page H4882]]

  Are the personnel adequate and are they trained that need to do these 
inspections? Are we taking extra effort when we are dealing with 
hazardous materials?
  Mr. Speaker, I have also asked the FRA and the National 
Transportation Safety Board to look at the adequacy of emergency 
response. The emergency responders did an excellent job this weekend. 
There is no doubt about it. But do they need more resources? Do they 
need more training? Do they need more equipment? Did Operation Respond 
function as we hoped that it would when we had it installed just last 
year?
  It seems clear that whenever there is hazardous materials 
transportation along the rails that we must work together, the FRA, the 
National Transportation Safety Board, the railroad companies 
themselves, the emergency responders themselves, all work together to 
make sure that the emergency responders have the resources they need 
along that railroad right of way.
  They are the ones that get called out at noon on Saturday when nobody 
else is around to handle 34 cars that have just derailed.
  Mr. Speaker, we have made progress. Last year following the Scary 
tragedy, CSX working with FRA undertook a comprehensive wall-to-wall 
safety audit. I met in April, along with Jolene Molitoris the 
administrator of the FRA, with CSX personnel and we came away feeling 
good about some of the improvements that clearly have been made. But 
clearly we must all continue working even more, because hazardous 
materials transportation challenges us all to the highest possible 
safety standards.
  So today I have written a letter to the administrator of the FRA. I 
have been in personal contact with the NTSB teams on the ground in West 
Virginia. We are going to request that there be a comprehensive review 
of safety measures in place along this hazardous materials corridor, 
and we want to make sure that this cleanup is undertaken in as quick a 
manner and safe a manner as possible.

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