[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 103 (Monday, July 23, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8044-S8055]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT,
2002
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate will now resume consideration of
H.R. 2299, which the clerk will report.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (H.R. 2299) making appropriations for the Department
of Transportation and related agencies for the fiscal year
ending September 30, 2002, and for other purposes.
Pending:
Murray/Shelby amendment No. 1025, in the nature of a
substitute.
Murray/Shelby amendment No. 1030 (to amendment No. 1025),
to enhance the inspection requirements for Mexican motor
carriers seeking to operate in the United States and to
require them to display decals.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.
Amendment No. 1030
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I believe the pending business is an
amendment by the Senator from Washington; is that correct?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the amendment. I will
not take very much time because I just discussed with the Senator from
Washington an amendment we would have which we would propose, perhaps,
as a second-degree amendment to the first-degree amendment of the
Senator from Washington. But more importantly, we hope perhaps we can
work out an agreement in the areas in which we are in disagreement.
Over the weekend, I examined the language in the Transportation
appropriations bill and our concerns about it. I do not think those
concerns are unbridgeable. So I would like to speak for just a few
moments. And hopefully we can discuss this issue and debate it and
then, if necessary, vote on the Murray amendment. If not, hopefully we
can work out some agreements which will achieve the goal we all seek.
The goal we all seek is simple: That Mexican trucks that are allowed
to come into the United States of America, according to the North
American Free Trade Agreement--this is in compliance with the North
American Free Trade Agreement. The United States has already been
found, by a panel, to be out of compliance with the North American Free
Trade Agreement because of our failure to allow trucks
[[Page S8045]]
that originate in Mexico to come into the United States. What we need
is a way they can come into the United States but that the American
people and the Mexican people will have the total and complete
confidence that every reasonable safety measure has been employed to
prevent needless death on the highways of America. That is the goal we
all seek.
As we know, the House has taken action, as part of the 2002
Department of Transportation appropriations bill, that would absolutely
prevent the President of the United States from abiding by our NAFTA
obligations. It stripped the bill of all funding intended to address
motor carrier safety issues along the southern border.
Second, it adopted an amendment to prohibit the approval of any
Mexican carriers to operate in this country. That amendment is a
blanket prohibition. It is in direct violation of NAFTA, and it is
wrong. It is discriminatory, and it must not prevail.
The Senate appropriations subcommittee, under the leadership of the
Senator from Washington, has taken a different approach and one that I
think is very supportable in part but perhaps not entirely. The bill
provides significant funding to enable the Department of Transportation
to hire and train more safety inspectors and investigators and to build
more inspection facilities at the southern border. I commend the
committee for this action.
I have concerns, however, over a number of requirements included in
the bill that, if enacted without modification, could effectively
prevent the opening of the border indefinitely. My concerns are shared
by other colleagues, and those concerns are shared by the
administration.
The administration estimates that the Senate provisions would result
in a further delay in opening the border for another 2 years or more.
This would be a direct violation of NAFTA. It effectively provides a
blanket prohibition against allowing any Mexican motor carrier from
operating beyond the commercial zones. And this is a view shared by a
number of us, as well as the President's senior advisers.
By the way, the present state of play is that if the Mexican
Government chose to--since the United States has been found to be in
violation of NAFTA--they could impose billions of dollars of sanctions
on United States goods. I hasten to add, I have seen no indication that
the Mexican Government wishes to take such action. Their object is to
try to get their carriers into the United States of America as agreed
to under the NAFTA agreement.
As a leading sponsor of the 1999 legislation creating the Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Administration, I strongly support proposals to
advance truck and bus safety. I recognize the Senate provisions are
largely intended to address safety concerns. Unfortunately, some of the
provisions' mandates simply are not achievable. The provisions are
overly rigid and burdensome. The modifications, I believe, could go a
long way toward promoting motor carrier safety in a nondiscriminatory
manner.
At a later time, I will discuss a number of the concerns that I and
others and the administration have about the bill. I have some very
specific ideas as to how we can address these concerns. But at the
moment, since I believe we are in some active discussions, I will not
take the time of the Senate in going through all these specifics.
I will again point out that the administration, last Thursday, sent
over a letter saying that the President had no choice but to veto the
bill with the present provisions as contained in the Senate
Transportation appropriations bill. I do not think the President wants
to veto the Transportation appropriations bill. I do not want the
President to do that, nor do a majority of the Members of the Senate.
But let me make it perfectly clear, the House action is totally
unacceptable. I hope we can work with the Senator from Washington, and
other interested Senators, particularly, I might say, with those who
represent border States.
The majority of this traffic, initially, will be crossing, obviously,
our southern borders. Already, our Canadian borders are open. Clearly,
that is not the issue. So those of us--Senator Gramm of Texas and I,
and my colleague, Senator Kyl--and others who represent border States,
where the majority of this commercial activity would take place, feel
very strongly about this issue.
I might say, also, we are the last ones--the last ones--who would
countenance a situation to prevail that would place the lives and
property of our citizens in danger. It is across the southern border
where most of this activity initially will take place, although I
believe I will live to see the day when we will see basically open
transportation between Canada and Mexico.
As it has been a boon to the economy in Canada, so it can be across
our southern border.
I hope we can deal with this issue in the ensuing hours. I understand
the Senator from Washington may be discussing this issue with the
Secretary of Transportation. We encourage all Members to get involved
in this issue. It is a very important one. We are not talking about a
policy dispute. I emphasize, we are talking about a solemn agreement
that was entered into between the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
That agreement called for certain safety conditions--which I believe we
can satisfy, in the view of most objective observers, satisfy the
safety issues--to come into compliance with the North American Free
Trade Agreement and have the same situation prevail on our southern
border as prevails on our northern border, as the Senator from
Washington has with Canada on her border.
The Senator from Texas and I would like to see the same situation
prevail on our border that prevails on the border of the Senator from
Washington with Canada.
I hope we can work it out. We believe this is a very serious and
important issue because we are talking about treaty violations,
possible sanctions against the United States of America. I am firmly
convinced that we can come to a reasonable conclusion and not have to
have this thing spill over into a very unfortunate situation where the
President of the United States may have to veto it. I hope to avoid
that.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I see my friend from Texas. I am going to
offer an amendment so we have something to vote on this afternoon. If
the Senator from Texas wanted to speak first, how long is he going to
speak?
Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I wasn't planning on speaking more than 5
or 10 minutes.
Mr. REID. I think it would be more convenient, because I need to talk
a little bit longer than that, if I yielded the floor to the Senator
from Texas.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, as usual, our colleague from Nevada is kind
and courteous and helpful to everybody. I appreciate his letting me
speak.
I wanted to come over today to join my friend and colleague, Senator
McCain from Arizona, to raise a concern about the provision in the
Transportation appropriations bill that we believe will have the
practical impact of making it impossible for a long period of time for
us to conform to the agreement that we made with Mexico in NAFTA.
Let me make it clear that the Senator from Washington, the
distinguished chairman of the subcommittee, dramatically improved the
work done by the House. Even those of us who believe that her amendment
would be harmful and would abrogate our agreement with Mexico are
convinced that her work is a dramatic improvement over that of the
House.
What we are trying to do is to simply work out an agreement where we
can meet legitimate safety standards with regard to Mexican trucks, do
it in a way that allows us to meet the obligations that we have under
NAFTA, and do it in such a way to try to keep out any provisions that
may be cloaked in some garb of safety, when in reality they represent
an effort to prevent the implementation of our agreement.
I understand Senator McCain has given the distinguished subcommittee
chairman a copy of the amendment. I don't see any reason that this
should be or has to be a partisan issue. I am hopeful we can work out
an agreement.
Let me explain why it is so important that such an agreement be
reached and why I feel so strongly
[[Page S8046]]
about it. We entered into the most far-reaching trade agreement of the
last 20 years when we signed a free trade agreement that encompassed
North America--Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Part of that free
trade agreement had to do with the ability of trucks to operate within
the free trade area. President Clinton was very slow in implementing
the agreement, and many people believe that politics was behind that
slowness in implementation.
We are now on the verge of seeing the agreement implemented. We are
hearing great protests about safety. In that debate, a lot of points
have been made that, when you actually look at the facts, are not borne
out by the facts.
Let me give an example. First of all, the good news story with regard
to Mexican trucks is that a significant amount of inspection is already
occurring so that when we supplement that to deal with trucks that will
come to the interior of the country, we have something on which to
build.
For example, there are 8 million U.S. registered trucks. Last year,
there were 2.3 million inspections and so, therefore, about 29 percent
of all American trucks were inspected. There are 63,000 Mexican trucks
currently operating in the United States, and 46,000 inspections took
place last year involving Mexican trucks. Therefore, roughly 73 percent
of Mexican trucks were inspected last year, over twice the percentage
of American trucks that were inspected.
Some people have used the number, in sort of scare tactics, that only
about 1 percent of Mexican trucks were inspected. In trying to figure
out where on earth that number could have possibly come from, the best
I can figure out is that the people who made up that number simply took
the number of border crossings, 4.6 million, and used that as a measure
of Mexican trucks.
The plain truth is, Mexican trucks are now operating within a 20-mile
limit, 20 miles from the border. They often cross the border many times
during the day. That is the only place I can figure this number came
from.
Let me make it clear that Senator McCain and I are concerned about
safety. First of all, both of us already have Mexican trucks operating
in our States. Our States are working now to see that those trucks are
safe. The commitment of the President to get the Federal Government
involved in the process is welcomed from our point of view. We believe
it is important that Mexican trucks be safe, that they have trained
drivers, that they have good equipment, and that that equipment be well
maintained.
We are for safety. We are not for protectionism. We are not for using
safety concerns as a ruse for not living up to the commitment that we
made in NAFTA.
In addition, we are concerned about a process whereby this provision,
both the House provision and the Senate provision, is occurring on
appropriations bills, not in the committees that have jurisdiction over
this area. It is a very dangerous precedent when we are starting to
amend trade agreements as riders to appropriations bills.
Having said all that, Senator McCain and I and others have put
together an amendment that we believe deals with legitimate safety
concerns. We have put together an amendment where every truck coming
into the United States from Mexico would be inspected. But it is not an
amendment that will guarantee that for at least 2 years we will not be
able to implement the trade agreement. Basically what we are trying to
do is to implement a workable program where the level of safety
required at the border, at least initially, with regard to Mexican
trucks will be far greater than the requirements we currently have for
Canadian trucks.
Not every truck coming into the United States from Canada is
inspected. We proposed that we have an inspection of every Mexican
truck, that that inspected truck then be licensed with a decal, and
that it be periodically inspected. I believe the Senator from Arizona
has given us a workable way of dealing with legitimate safety concerns
without effectively abrogating our trade agreement with Mexico.
I know there are strong special interests that don't want to
implement this agreement. But it is very important for us to remember
in the Senate that all over the world today other legislative bodies
are debating whether to live up to agreements they have made with the
United States of America. Other legislative bodies are meeting at this
very moment, trying to decide whether to implement an agreement they
made with the United States that may not at that very moment, or this
very moment, be politically popular in their country.
It seems to me that since we are the world's biggest beneficiary of
trade, we are the world's largest exporter and importer of goods and
services by a huge margin, it is important we live up to the letter and
the spirit of our trade agreements so that we can have moral standing
in dealing with countries that do not live up to their agreements with
us.
So, in a time when all over the world similar agreements are being
debated, it is very important in dealing with our neighbor to the south
that we live up to the agreement we have made. I do not believe the
House provision lives up to that agreement. I think there are very real
problems with the current bill. I think Senator McCain has offered an
amendment that provides safety but does not create problems that will
delay implementation beyond legitimate requirements of safety. I hope
this can be worked out. But the NAFTA agreement is an important
agreement. It is vital to my State, vital to the country, and I cannot
imagine, if we can't work this out, that we would want to move forward
with this bill.
So I urge my colleagues to look at the language that has been
proposed. We are not saying this is the only way it has to be done or
we are not going to be satisfied. We have simply raised some concerns
with the current bill. I am hopeful in working together with the
administration that we can reach a compromise. It will hardly serve
anybody's purpose to pass a bill that the President will veto and we
will have to start all over again.
I thank the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada is recognized.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Murray
amendment be temporarily set side.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Amendment No. 1037 to Amendment No. 1025
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid], for himself, Ms.
Mikulski, and Mr. Sarbanes, proposes an amendment numbered
1037 to amendment No. 1025.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that further reading
of the amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment is as follows:
(Purpose: To require a study of the hazards and risks to public health
and safety, the environment, and the economy of the transportation of
hazardous chemicals and radioactive material, the improvements to
transportation infrastructure necessary to prevent accidents in the
transportation of such chemicals and material, and the preparedness of
Federal, State, and local emergency response and medical personnel to
response to and mitigate accidents in the transportation of such
chemicals and material)
On page 81, at the end of line 13, insert the following:
Sec. 350. (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following
findings:
(1) The condition of highway, railway, and waterway
infrastructure across the Nation varies widely and is in need
of improvement and investment.
(2) Thousands of tons of hazardous chemicals, and a very
small amount of high level radioactive material, is
transported along the Nation's highways, railways, and
waterways each year.
(3) The volume of hazardous chemical transport increased by
over one-third in the last 25 years and is expected to
continue to increase. Some propose significantly increasing
radioactive material transport.
(4) Approximately 261,000 people were evacuated across the
Nation because of rail-related accidental releases of
hazardous chemicals between 1978 and 1995, and during that
period industry reported 8 transportation accidents involving
the small volume of high level radioactive waste transported
during that period.
(5) The Federal Railroad Administration has significantly
decreased railroad inspections and has allocated few
resources since
[[Page S8047]]
1993 to assure the structural integrity of railroad bridges.
Train derailments have increased by 18 percent over roughly
the same period.
(6) The poor condition of highway, railway, and waterway
infrastructure, increases in the volume of hazardous chemical
transport, and proposed increases in radioactive material
transport increase the risk of accidents involving such
chemicals and materials.
(7) Measuring the risks of hazardous chemical or
radioactive material accidents and preventing such accidents
requires specific information concerning the condition and
suitability of specific transportation routes contemplated
for such transport to inform and enable investment in related
infrastructure.
(8) Mitigating the impact of hazardous chemical and
radioactive material transportation accidents requires
skilled, localized, and well-equipped emergency response
personnel along all specifically identified transportation
routes.
(9) Accidents involving hazardous chemical or radioactive
material transport pose threats to the public health and
safety, the environment, and the economy.
(b) Study.--The Secretary of Transportation shall, in
consultation with the Comptroller General of the United
States, conduct a study of the hazards and risks to public
health and safety, the environment, and the economy
associated with the transportation of hazardous chemicals and
radioactive material.
(c) Matters To Be Addressed.--The study under subsection
(b) shall address the following matters:
(1) Whether the Federal Government conducts individualized
and detailed evaluations and inspections of the condition and
suitability of specific transportation routes for the
current, and any anticipated or proposed, transport of
hazardous chemicals and radioactive material, including
whether resources and information are adequate to conduct
such evaluations and inspections.
(2) The costs and time required to ensure adequate
inspection of specific transportation routes and related
infrastructure and to complete the infrastructure
improvements necessary to ensure the safety of current, and
any anticipated or proposed, hazardous chemical and
radioactive material transport.
(3) Whether Federal, State, and local emergency
preparedness personnel, emergency response personnel, and
medical personnel are adequately trained and equipped to
promptly respond to accidents along specific transportation
routes for current, anticipated, or proposed hazardous
chemical and radioactive material transport.
(4) The costs and time required to ensure that Federal,
State, and local emergency preparedness personnel, emergency
response personnel, and medical personnel are adequately
trained and equipped to promptly respond to accidents along
specific transportation routes for current, anticipated, or
proposed hazardous chemical and radioactive material
transport.
(5) The availability of, or requirements to establish,
information collection and dissemination systems adequate to
provide the public, in an accessible manner, with timely,
complete, specific, and accurate information (including
databases) concerning actual, proposed, or anticipated
shipments by highway, railway, or waterway of hazardous
chemicals and radioactive materials, including accidents
involving the transportation of such chemicals and materials
by those means.
(d) Deadline for Completion.--The study under subsection
(b) shall be completed not later than six months after the
date of the enactment of this Act.
(e) Report.--Upon completion of the study under subsection
(b), the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the
study.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I just left a hearing of the Environment and
Public Works Committee, the Subcommittee on Transportation and
Infrastructure. In fact, the hearing is still going on. Senators
Voinovich and Inhofe are there completing the hearing.
At the hearing today, we had four mayors of very important cities in
America--the mayor of New Orleans, Mayor Marc Morial; the mayor or
Atlanta, Mayor Campbell; the mayor of Las Vegas, Mayor Goodman; and the
mayor of the District of Columbia, Mayor Williams. The purpose of the
hearing is to talk about the decaying infrastructure of our country,
especially in our urban areas.
It is tragic--``tragic'' is not too powerful a word to describe what
they have talked about. We have all kinds of problems. The mayor of the
District of Columbia--the Federal city--talked about water pipes that
carry water that are over 100 years old. Some of them are wooden. The
mayor of Atlanta said they have pipes over 100 years old. He said most
mayors are term limited, and their desire is: Please, let me make it
through my term and leave the problem to somebody else. They do not
have the money to handle the problems facing American cities.
The tunnel we have all seen so often in the news in the past 5 days
or 6 days--actually, it was Wednesday at 3 o'clock that the derailment
took place in the tunnel in Baltimore. That tunnel is a mile and a half
long. It is 100 years old. So that tunnel was created through that area
in about 1900. What kind of equipment did they have then? Most of it
was done by hand; very little machinery was available for digging a
tunnel around the turn of the century. That tunnel has had almost
nothing done to it since then. It is the same tunnel.
This amendment is on behalf of myself, Senator Sarbanes, and Senator
Mikulski. It is an amendment to protect against the dangers posed by
the transportation of hazardous substances. The amendment requires the
Secretary of the Department of Transportation, in consultation with the
Comptroller General of the United States, to study the risk to the
public health and safety associated with the transportation of these
dangerous substances.
My amendment requires the Department of Transportation and the
General Accounting Office to study whether our transportation system
can safely transport these dangerous substances and ask how it might
improve the safety track record.
If you read my amendment, you will see a number of interesting
things. The volume of hazardous chemical transport has increased by
over one-third in the last 25 years and is expected to continue.
Approximately 261,000 people were evacuated across this Nation because
of rail-related accidents during the past 20 years--no, that is not in
the last 20 years. It is from the period of 1978 to 1995--less than 20
years. So 261,000 people were evacuated from their homes because of
rail-related accidents.
During that period, the industry reported eight transportation
accidents involving small volumes of high-level radioactive waste
transported during that period.
The Federal Railroad Administration has significantly decreased
railroad inspections and has allocated few resources since 1993 to
assure the structural integrity of railroad bridges.
One of the mayors today testified that 70 percent of the bridges in
America won't meet basic safety standards--70 percent of the bridges.
Maybe he is 10 percent wrong. Maybe it is only 60 percent; maybe it is
80 percent. We know there are bridges in America today where
schoolbuses stop and let the kids walk across, and the bus will come
over and pick them up. We have all kinds of trouble with our
infrastructure in America today. We need to do something about it, and
that is what this amendment is all about.
It is saying let's at least have some knowledge of what is out there
when we are seeing these treks of very hazardous materials. As you
know, in Baltimore, which we all saw, the substance there was
hydrochloric acid. Hydrochloric acid is extremely dangerous. One of the
important things was that it was far enough away from people that it
wasn't an immediate danger. Had the accident occurred closer to the
populated area, of course, it would have been.
I can remember a number of years ago being in Ely, NV, a rural part
of the State of Nevada. One of the men I went to high school with was a
police officer there. I always tried to stop him when I came through
Ely. He has since retired. I was in the police station and a teletype
came through and he looked at it and said: Why do they even send me
this stuff? They were telling him there was a transport of hazardous
materials coming through Ely. His point was: So what. I could not do
anything about it. The only thing that telling me about it does is
frighten me. We have no ability to respond to a chemical accident
spilled in Ely, NV.
Mr. President, this is an extremely important question: How can the
Department of Transportation and the General Accounting Office--we know
how they can and they should--study the ability of personnel to respond
to transportation accidents involving dangerous substances?
My friend, the police officer in Ely, NV, did what most police
officers in rural America would do: They throw the report away. They
cannot do anything about it. In fact, Rick said he would rather not
know. All it does is frighten him.
While emergency response teams might be equipped and available in
[[Page S8048]]
urban areas such as Baltimore--that was interesting. That occurred so
they had the ability--and we may hear further from Senators Sarbanes
and Mikulski--that was a great deal of teamwork among county, city,
State, and Federal officials in one of our metropolitan areas. They did
pretty well from what I can tell.
How prepared are the small rural communities in Nevada? How well
prepared are the small rural communities in Nebraska, the State of
Washington, all over America? They are not very well prepared.
What resources do they need to protect against the danger of a
hazardous accident? I have to say candidly that this is not just a
rural America problem; it is a major city problem also. But I guess the
answer to both my questions is, we really do not know. We have no idea.
That is why this study is important.
Finally, my amendment instructs DOT and GAO to evaluate the way we
communicate with the public about accidents involving dangerous
substances. As chairman of this subcommittee I talked about earlier, I
am confident we are going to have to develop information, as I told the
four mayors, and we also had the manager of the port authority there
and somebody from the General Accounting Office--I told those people
assembled today that we need to be aware of what is wrong with our
infrastructure. It is time they were more forceful and told us what is
wrong with our infrastructure.
I also told them this is the first of a number of hearings. We have
to start identifying what is wrong with the infrastructure. Senator
Voinovich talked about a 1981 study which showed the problems with our
infrastructure. Shortly after that, there were statements about the
problems of our decaying infrastructure, but we have done nothing about
it. Literally, we have done nothing, except as a Federal Government
giving cities and States more responsibilities, these unfunded mandates
they talked about today. We give them the responsibility, but we do not
join with them in true partnership to help pay for these things.
Some will say these are not national problems; why should the Federal
Government be involved? They are national problems. Our decaying
infrastructure is a national problem. Our water systems--the mayor of
New Orleans indicated that the city of New Orleans is basically in a
basin and they are pumping every minute of every day to keep the water
from inundating this beautiful city. They have 100 pumping stations in
New Orleans. The pumps are 100 years old--100 years old. Those pumps
were put there at the beginning of the last century. The mayor of
Atlanta said the life expectancy of modern pumps is about 40 years.
This is a patchwork network, to say the least, in one of our great
cities of America, pumping every day, every hour, with pumps 100 years
old.
As events in Baltimore over the last few days have shown us, the need
to have an investigation about whether we can transport these dangerous
substances is something we certainly need to talk about. I expect my
colleagues from Maryland will provide accounts of the train derailment
that crippled Baltimore.
I have an article from the Baltimore Sun which gives a day-by-day
blow of how this terrible accident played out in the Baltimore area. It
is very scary that more people were not hurt and there was not more
damage done. The damage is significant. I do not know how much it will
wind up costing.
I ask unanimous consent that this article from the Baltimore Sun,
July 21, Saturday, Final Edition, be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Baltimore Sun, July 21, 2001]
Chemical Train Fire
(By Dan Fesperman)
The first sign of trouble was an unsettling rumble from
beneath the streets, a trembling, grinding sensation that
lasted several seconds.
Dan Stone felt it on the fifth floor of the cast-iron
building he owns at 300 W. Pratt St. In a tavern downstairs,
manager Christine Groller felt it, too, believing it was an
earthquake.
It wasn't like that for Chad Cadden, but he was in a tunnel
some 30 feet underground, the engineer of a thrumming diesel
hauling 60 freight cars of paper, chemicals, wood pulp, soy
oil, bricks and steel north to New Jersey.
Cadden felt the train lurch, then a light flashed on the
instrument panel--the pneumatic control indicator--signaling
that the emergency brakes were on. The train groaned to a
halt in the darkness. Something had gone wrong.
It was 3:07 Wednesday afternoon, and an exhausting drama of
fire, flood, worry and disruption had begun to unfold beneath
the heart of Baltimore. At its south end, thousands of
baseball fans sat unaware, watching the final innings of an
Orioles loss. At its north end, more than a mile and half
away, the manager of a high-rise apartment building watched a
plume of black smoke unfurl past the 11th floor, wondering if
her longtime fears were about to be confirmed.
Soon, both ends of the tunnel would be cloaked by rolling
black smoke. Because of it, the fire would yield its secrets
stubbornly, and for an entire night there would be just
enough mystery to trigger Civil Defense sirens and fears of a
toxic disaster, while fire companies fought a two-front war
against an enemy they could neither see nor understand.
But that wasn't all. A water main just above the tunnel
would burst three hours after the derailment, gushing so much
water that the level of Druid Hill Reservoir would drop 3
feet in four hours.
Only by sundown of the next day would the consequences seem
clearer--a derailed tanker car leaking hydrochloric acid,
several downtown buildings flooded by a torrent of 60 million
gallons, enough broken telecommunications lines to disrupt e-
mail around the world, two postponed Orioles baseball games
(and another yesterday), and enough downtown gridlock to
produce a year's worth of headaches and missed appointments.
Yet, for all the smoke and bother, not a single life would
be lost, pending the unforeseen discovery of anyone who might
have hopped aboard an empty boxcar. In this disaster, for
once, every member of the cast would come out alive. But not
without a few second thoughts about what might have been, had
their luck turned for the worse.
3:07: The earth moves
It takes only a crew of two to run a freight train. The
engineer mans the controls of the diesel engines while the
conductor generally operate the brake, calls out passing
signals and maintains the waybill, which carries the
information of what's on board.
Cadden, 27, of Stewartstown, Pa., and conductor Edward
Brown, 52, of West Baltimore, had just boarded the train a
few minutes earlier, six miles short of the tunnel during a
crew change at Curtis Bay. If there was trouble ahead you
wouldn't expect to encounter it in the tunnel, as straight a
stretch of railway as you'll find on the CSX route through
the city.
A signal just before the tunnel indicated the track ahead
was clear, so the train continued. It was 3:04, and the train
was lumbering along at just over 20 mph, black exhaust
snorting from three engines at the front.
Looming to the left were the grandstands and warehouse of
Camden Yards. The train entered the tunnel, its four
headlights on, accelerating on a slight downgrade to about 23
mph before beginning the long, slow climb on the gradual rise
beneath Howard Street.
That's when Stone and Groller were at work, in the building
just above the tunnel at Howard and Pratt streets. And at
3:07, the earth moved.
``It seemed to be a grinding noise and a grinding
sensation,'' Stone said. ``I've been here for 11 years, and
I've never felt anything like it.''
``It lasted maybe 10 seconds,'' Groller said. ``I honestly
thought it was an earthquake.''
Cadden and Brown weren't sure what to think, according to
federal transportation officials who interviewed them. There
was the lurch, then the flashing indicator, then the stopping
of the train. Black fumes were everywhere, but that's often
the case when three engines are running in a tunnel.
They tried to radio the CSX dispatcher, but no luck,
probably because they were underground. Cadden used his cell
phone, reaching the train master. It was 3:15. They were
still unaware of the brewing disaster to their rear.
With the fumes growing worse. they shut down two engines,
then uncoupled all three from their cargo. and drove them out
the tunnel's north end underneath the high roof of the old
Mount Royal Station at the foot of Bolton Hill. Now the
radio worked and they reached the dispatcher. It was 3:25.
By then they'd begun checking the waybill, reviewing what
they'd left behind. And that's what troubled them when they
began to notice the black smoke pouring out of the tunnel.
Something was on fire, and it might be anything from paper to
toxic chemicals.
4:15: no false alarm
Seven blocks away, on the other side of Bolton Hill, Capt.
James Smith, 34, sat in the firehouse for Engine Co. 13, at
405 McMechen St.
A call came in: smoke pouring from the train tunnel. Ho
hum. Probably yet another panicky person who'd seen diesel
fumes, a common concurrence. But when the truck pulled
beneath the Mount Royal shed at 4:15 p.m., Smith said, the
volume of smoke made it clear this was no false alarm.
``That,'' Smith said, ``knocked it up a notch.''
``it's the tunnel''
A block away, Elaine Macklin wondered what all the fuss was
about. As resident
[[Page S8049]]
manager for 21 years of the high-rise Sutton Place
Apartments, it's been her job to find out such things, and
the sirens were blowing. She, too, was familiar with the
frequent false alarms, but she'd read enough newspaper
stories about the sort of cargo that came and went on those
tracks to wonder if one day a call might be for real.
``I just had a feeling,'' said Macklin, 72. Years ago,
she'd told her three scoffing children, ``Someday, something
will happen in that tunnel.''
Now, after more than two decades of living and working next
door, that day had come. But she didn't know until she rode
an elevator to an empty apartment on the 11th floor for a
better look. She was joined by her longtime assistance,
Patricia Stanitski, who said: ``The school's on fire,''
referring to the old Mount Royal Station, which houses part
of the Maryland Institute, College of Art.
``No,'' Macklin said, watching the smoke rise part the top
floor. ``It's the tunnel.''
She hoped there was nothing hazardous burning.
a foray into darkness
Chief Terry Ryer wondered the same thing when he heard the
call go out to Engine Co. 13.
Ryer, 49, was listening to the radio at the firehouse in
Brooklyn, where he commands the 6th Battalion, with its
hazardous materials squad.
It was a later part of the call that sent him into action.
Not only had a train possibly derailed, but hazardous
materials might be involved. Ryer opened his office door and
told the firefighters relaxing in the bay to stand ready.
Less than a minute later they got the call.
The son of a city firefighter, Ryer, like his dad, signed
on for duty at age 18, so he's been around long enough to
know that some fires aren't the sort that should be rushed
into, and this sounded like just such a fire.
Captain Smith was discovering that firsthand. He and three
others were the first to enter the tunnel. Within a few feet
they were submerged in darkness. Each wore 80 pounds of
equipment, picking his way across rail ties, chunky stones
and the rails themselves. They talked to each other,
touching, anything to keep from separating in the blackness,
while wondering what would happen if the fire suddenly
intensified. They weren't even sure what was burning.
A situation like this ran counter to almost all their
training, which teaches them to constantly be aware of
``escape routes'' and ``safety zones.''
``In a dwelling fire,'' Smith said, ``you're usually never
more than 12 feet from a window or some stair, a door, a
ladder. This really played with your mind. . . . We were
concerned it may have been a caustic (substance).
They made it a hundred yards, at most, before agreeing to
back out. A second attempt also failed.
By then, news media were gathering at both ends of the
tunnel, and the word going out wasn't good. Chemicals,
including three types of acid, were on board, and no one knew
yet what was in all that black smoke. The Orioles had just
canceled the second game of their day-night doubleheader.
At Sutton Place, Macklin tried to calm the tenants, though
most didn't seem too concerned. Then, in walked seven
firefighters in full gear, fanning out floor by floor to tell
everyone to shut their windows and stay indoors.
Miles to the southeast, somewhere near the Bay Bridge,
Mayor Martin O'Malley was on his way home from the annual J.
Millard Tawes Crab and Clambake in Crisfield, talking on the
phone with officials who were trying to assess the situation.
Police had shut down Howard Street, rerouting traffic, with
cars stacked up all over downtown. Civil Defense sirens
sounded the alarm, blasting like some warning from the Cold
War.
But what was burning? Nobody had the answer. Nor did anyone
know that the city's problems were about to get worse.
6:15: Howard Street flood
It was 6:30 when Dan Stone, who'd felt that first troubling
rumble beneath his feet more than three hours earlier,
noticed something new happening outside his office at Pratt
and Howard Streets.
Water was coming down Howard Street. Buckets of it. Barrels
of it. Rivers of it. Something else had erupted underground,
and on meters at city reservoirs the event announced itself
like a blip on a seismograph.
It had happened at 6:15, almost certainly due to the fire.
A water main nearly 3\1/2\ feet in diameter burst, blowing
open a jagged hole several feet long. Darrell Owens, 41, a
supervisor for west-side maintenance with the city's
Department of Public Works, was the first to arrive at the
scene.
Owens thought he'd seen it all--burst mains creating huge
sinkholes that devoured city blocks; urban streets raging
like canyons in a flash flood. But this was a new one--a
flood on top of a fire.
``It was a swimming pool, two, three and a half feet
deep.'' Fire hydrants were submerged. A block away, the
torrent swamped the first floor of the Prudential Securities
Building.
Deb and Paul Pelaia, meanwhile, had left Lombard and Howard
streets a few minutes earlier.
As guests from Thomasville, Pa., staying at the Holiday
Inn, they were beginning to wonder what they'd gotten into by
visiting Baltimore. Deb had come for a three-day nursing
conference. Paul came along for a boat cruise and an Orioles
game.
What they got instead was a front-row seat at an urban
disaster. The Holiday Inn overlooked the flood, itself
perhaps 30 feet above the derailed and burning train.
Already, Paul's baseball game had been canceled. The bus that
was to take them to the harbor cruise got stuck in traffic.
So, they walked to the Inner Harbor, wondering at the smoke
pouring from manholes.
During their cruise on the Bay Lady, word of the flood
spread. Someone said they'd heard the Holiday Inn was closed.
The boat returned to find the Coast Guard had closed the
Inner Harbor, and docked instead at Pier 5. It was 10 p.m.,
but traffic was still bumper to bumper, and the bus had to
drop them off short of the hotel--still open after all--
because of the river in the street. They returned to their
room to find water in the tap running brown, at low pressure.
Welcome to Charm City.
white smoke raises fears
At the ends of the tunnels, where news of the water main
break was a little slower in arriving, the first effects of
the flood were cause for alarm.
One thing firefighters always pay attention to is the color
of the smoke, and suddenly the smoke had gone from black to
white. Did it mean something toxic was on fire? The answer
was the same as before. No one knew.
However, readings taken by the Maryland Department of the
Environment soon put fears to rest. It was steam, caused by
water from the burst main. Fire crews asked Owens to leave
the line open. Used to simply shutting things off as soon as
possible, he was now faced with an unenviable assignment akin
to that of a basketball player asked to guard a high-scoring
superstar: You can't stop it, you can only hope to contain
it. He said he'd do what he could.
third try, first contact
Within a few hours more, it was time for firefighters to
make a third attempt to reach the train from the north end.
The south end was out of the question due to flooding.
Captain Smith and Chief Ryer were on the team of six men. So
was Dan MacFarlane, 32, another member of Smith's Engine Co.
13.
By now, their faces were blackened by soot and they knew
what to expect. This time they rode in slowly on a CSX truck
equipped with railway wheels. Each man took two oxygen
bottles, a 70-minute supply. After a while, the truck stopped
and four of the six set out on foot, flashlights pointed at
their feet to light the way. Over the radio, someone at the
mouth of the tunnel called out the elapsed time every five
minutes. It took a half-hour to go 2,200 feet, Ryer said.
MacFarlane was ready to give up. ``We're going to pull
out,'' he radioed. But they took two more steps, and
firefighter Pat Hoban, just in front of MacFarlane and Smith,
touched the first boxcar. Contact. It wasn't much, but they'd
take it. Now the work of removing the train cars could begin.
``Mom, you were right''
Fourteen floors above, in her apartment at Sutton Place,
Elaine Macklin was ready to turn in at midnight after an
uneasy night of watching TV news accounts, windows shut
tight.
All of downtown was sealed up. You could leave, but you
couldn't come back. Police had closed every major road.
Helping lessen the sense of isolation, Macklin had heard by
telephone from friends and family, some of whom called after
radio and TV stations reported that Sutton Place was being
evacuated. Officials were standing by to move residents to
cots in the Baltimore Convention Center, but never did.
The most satisfying call came from her son Victor, 45, a
television producer in California. He'd seen the news on CNN.
``He said, `Mom, you were absolutely right. You told us 21
years ago something would happen in that tunnel.' ''
Perhaps by morning, she hoped, everything would be fixed.
But she arose Thursday to see white smoke still rising from
the tunnel. When she walked close to her living room window,
she could smell it.
thank mother nature
A few blocks south, at the Holiday Inn, the Pelaias and
other lodgers saw that the impromptu hotel ``swimming pool''
was finally under control. Owens and public works crews had
contained it, digging a hole in the street that exposed the
ruptured pipe. Water was still dumping into the tunnel.
Overnight, a new guest had checked into the hotel. It was
Dan Stone, who hadn't wanted to desert his building at Pratt
and Howard streets. Water in the basement had peaked at 9
feet by 11 p.m., when city workers began pumping it out. He
hadn't reached the hotel until 4:20 a.m.
Other workers, meanwhile, were just beginning to head home
as the new day's rush hour began, ending shifts that had
continued while the rest of the city slept. Ryer got home at
6:30 a.m., Smith and MacFarlane around 8. Owens made it by
9:30. But for all of the night's heroes, one of the more
unsung ones might have been Mother Nature, in the form of a
geological stroke of luck.
Since the first hour of the derailment, hydrochloric acid
had been leaking from one of the tanker cars. Yet, there
hadn't been a single problem with air or water flowing from
the spot. The possible reason, according to state
environmental officials, was the limestone bedrock beneath
the tunnel. Being an
[[Page S8050]]
alkali, it reacts with acid sort of like water with fire,
neutralizing its caustic nature.
day 2: a new strategy
The fire, while still burning, no longer seemed an imminent
threat to blow into an environmental disaster. By late
afternoon, a firefighting force that had peaked at 150 was
down to 50. Not that their jobs were getting much easier.
Some boxcars had already been removed from the tunnel.
Others would soon follow. But some were still baking at 400
degrees, and smoke still poured from the north end. The next
day, two men--a state official and a chemical consultant--
were overcome by smoke.
But it was on Thursday afternoon that the firefighters
hatched a new strategy. Dan Stone got a preview of it from
his office, when three firemen asked if there might be an
entrance to the tunnel through his building. There wasn't,
but they eventually found another: through a manhole, where
they poked a hose to douse the fire's midsection. It was also
the entry point for hazardous waste crews that pumped
hydrochloric acid from the leaking tanker.
Outnumbering fire crews by then were street crews, digging
into the pavement five blocks east of Howard Street to lay
new fiber-optic cable. Lines near or through the tunnel had
been damaged or destroyed, disrupting e-mail. Internet and
phone service from Baltimore to New York to Africa.
Sorting out events
By nightfall Thursday, another force had arrived on the
scene. The National Transportation Safety Board plays an
important role in sorting out such events, ultimately
assigning blame. Yesterday, the NTSB made itself known to the
public through board member John Hammerschmidt, whose
briefings were minor masterpieces of bureaucratic jargon.
On for the day's final briefing was CSX President Michael
Ward, who grew up not far from Terry Ryer's 6th Battalion
fire headquarters in Brooklyn.
Ward praised the city, praised the mayor and said his
company would continue to err on the side of caution. Then
came a question. Once this mess was cleaned up, would his
company consider installing sprinklers in the tunnel?
Ward testily called any such question ``premature.''
``Hindsight is 20-20,'' offered the Fire Department's Mike
Maybin, affirming his department's skills.
What about foresight? They must have forgotten to ask
Elaine Macklin, at Sutton Place, who again went to bed with
smoke pouring past her 14th-floor window.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, this article, among other things, details
how this train derailment threatened to leak hazardous chemicals, such
as hydrochloric acid, into the main tunnel running under downtown
Baltimore. They were able to stop that leak. This train derailment
closed roads, broke fiberoptic communications cables, generated a water
main break, caused evacuation of residents, and injured workers. While
it was not one of the more serious things, it indicates how widespread
this was: They canceled three Baltimore Orioles baseball games. They
simply could not play with hazardous materials around. People could not
get to the game. Baltimore was basically shut off.
To show the cost to the business community, we have only to look at
what happened to the Baltimore Orioles. Damages associated with just
the lost baseball revenues are estimated at almost $5 million for the
Baltimore Orioles.
Is Baltimore an isolated example? Of course not. Between 1978 and
1995, as I said, over 260,000 people were evacuated across the Nation
due to transportation accidents involving trains. There are some
reasons why. The Federal Railroad Administration increased inspections
and allocated few resources to ensure bridge safety across the Nation.
Train derailments during that period increased 18 percent.
Unfortunately, we do not have good statistics about the prevalence or
damages associated with accidents such as the one in Baltimore. We do
know from press reports that transportation-related accidents involving
dangerous substances occur around the Nation each year. A quick search
revealed many.
For example, I found an exploding boxcar in Kansas City sending its
hazardous contents, potassium nitrate, into a nearby school. I am told
that is one of the things that was used in the bomb in Kansas City.
I found other reports in Charleston, SC, of a train derailment that
spilled 300 gallons of formaldehyde and forced the evacuation of 100
families and hospitalized 7.
I know of the train derailment in California where hazardous
substances were dumped in a river and endangered the life and property
of millions of people in California.
While we do not have a complete count of all the accidents, we do
have data to show transportation of dangerous substances is on the
rise. With increased transportation comes an increased risk unless we
step back and evaluate how well our transportation infrastructure is
handling this dangerous cargo.
We need to know whether our emergency response personnel are trained
and equipped to deal with hazardous accidents, not only in urban
Baltimore but in rural Nevada. We need to know whether we adequately
convey information on dangerous accidents to the public in time to
ensure their safety.
We do not have reliable estimates of the need to upgrade
infrastructure in order to handle unique threats posed by accidents
involving dangerous substances. We will need these estimates to prepare
a new transportation bill which we are going to begin next year, our
every-5-year bill. The study required by this amendment offered by this
Senator and the two Senators from Maryland is an important first step
in that effort.
It was coincidental that I had the hearing today--it had been
scheduled for some time--dealing with our decaying infrastructure. We
need to do something, and one of the things we can do will be focused
as a result of this amendment, which will cause the Department of
Transportation and the General Accounting Office to take a look at how
safe it is to transport and, if not, what do they recommend to make it
more safe.
We are going to try to vote on this at 5:45 p.m. today.
There is going to be a vote today and we would like to keep it on
Transportation. When we hear from the minority, we will be in a
position to offer a unanimous consent in that regard. I hope this
amendment will be supported. I think it should be an overwhelming
affirmative vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, I am pleased to join with my colleague,
the very able Senator from Nevada, Mr. Reid, in cosponsoring this
amendment to the fiscal year 2002 Transportation appropriations bill
which calls for a study of the hazards and risks associated with the
transportation of hazardous chemicals or radioactive material on our
rail and highway network.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, more than 800,000
shipments of hazardous materials, or hazmats, occur each day on our
highways, railroads, and waterways. The total volume of hazardous
materials such as flammable liquids and corrosive chemicals exceeds
some 3 billion tons a year. While the vast majority of these shipments
are transported safely, without any release, the number of hazmat
incidents reported to the Department of Transportation has nearly
doubled in the past decade.
As Senator Reid has already noted, last Wednesday a 60-car freight
train, including several cars containing hazardous chemicals, derailed
and caught fire in the Howard Street tunnel right through downtown
Baltimore. The cause of the derailment and fire are still under
investigation, but according to news reports, some fire officials
speculate the fire started in a car carrying tripropylene, a caustic
and flammable chemical used for making detergents and plastics.
I take this opportunity to commend the members of the Baltimore City
Fire Department for their heroic efforts in managing the fire and
protecting the health and safety of the citizens of our city. For
nearly 5 days, the city firefighters undertook tremendous risks,
courageously entering the dark tunnel, vision impaired by smoke, to
face the fire and the volatile chemicals and hazardous materials that
burned within. During the height of the incident, over 150 of the
city's firefighters were on the scene and many more obviously reported
for duty throughout the course of this incident.
The fact that injuries were kept to a minimum is a testament to the
skill and professionalism with which the Baltimore City firefighters
performed their jobs. I also express my appreciation to the Coast Guard
Strike Force, the Maryland Department of Environment, and all the other
members of the team who worked around the clock to
[[Page S8051]]
protect public health and the environment.
Firefighters' activities were largely completed last night. This
morning, the last of the 60 railcars was pulled out of the tunnel. The
tunnel is now free of the train and examination will now take place
with respect to the structural status of this tunnel.
As Senator Reid and I discussed last week on the Senate floor, this
accident underscores the potential dangers to public health and safety,
the environment and the economy in connection with the transportation
of hazardous materials, but it also makes clear the need to invest in
our Nation's infrastructure.
I very much welcome the amendment of my colleague. I want to
underscore this is an issue in which he has taken considerable
interest. In fact, he held a hearing this morning which had been
scheduled, as I understand it, well before this incident took place.
Senator Reid and others who have been concerned about the
infrastructure, and I know it is a concern the chairman of the
Appropriations Committee, Senator Byrd, shares with us, have for quite
some time tried to focus attention on the necessity to improve the
Nation's infrastructure.
Later in the consideration of this bill I will join with my
colleague, Senator Mikulski, in offering an amendment to specifically
begin to address the aging rail infrastructure in the Baltimore area.
Our amendment would provide up to $750,000 in Federal matching funds
for the Department of Transportation, in cooperation with Amtrak,
Norfolk Southern, CSX, the State of Maryland, and the City of
Baltimore, to conduct a comprehensive study to assess the existing
problems in the freight and passenger rail infrastructure in the
Baltimore region. The study would assess the condition, track,
limitation, and efficiency of the existing tunnels, bridges, and other
railroad facilities owned and operated by the railroads. It would also
examine the benefits and costs of various alternatives, including
shared usage of track. It would make recommendations regarding
improvements to the rail infrastructure in the Baltimore region or the
construction of new facilities to reduce congestion and improve safety
and efficiency. The availability of the funds would be contingent upon
CSX, Norfolk Southern and the State of Maryland providing equal amounts
to conduct the study.
Next year marks the 175th year of railroad in America commemorating
the history of railroading that actually began in Baltimore with the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. While it is an honor to have this historic
commemoration, this commemoration also serves to date our railroad
infrastructure in Maryland as amongst the oldest, of course, in the
country. Indeed, major rail improvements made in the latter part of the
19th century, including rail corridors, bridges and tunnels, continue
even to this day to serve by providing routes for significant inner-
city passenger and freight traffic moving up and down the east coast,
as well as providing links from the ports to the Midwest and points
beyond.
Two major main line corridors traverse Baltimore. Amtrak operates
more than 100 trains a day through Baltimore, traversing through two
sets of major tunnels, the Union tunnel and the Baltimore and Potomac
tunnel, immediately northeast and southwest of Penn Station. These
tunnels were built in the 1870s when the Pennsylvania Railroad extended
its reach south to Washington. A second parallel Union tunnel was built
in the early part of the 20th century. Amtrak's corridor is also used
by MARC commuter rail trains linking Baltimore and Washington and
Norfolk and Southern freight trains.
While a number of improvements have been made to the corridor since
the 1970s, the basic infrastructure of the route, including the tunnels
and bridges over the numerous rivers north of Baltimore, is virtually
the same as that in place some 75 to 100 years ago. CSX, the descendent
of the original Baltimore and Ohio Railroad also operates its main line
through Baltimore. The main line serves traffic traveling north and
south up and down the east coast and traffic which is ultimately headed
west to the Ohio River Valley. Both movements converge between
Washington and Baltimore and use the main line through the latter city.
It is CSX's main line which passes through Baltimore by the 1.7-mile-
long Howard Street tunnel where the accident occurred on Wednesday
night. Most of this was built in the 1890s on a single track. Numerous
other short tunnels and bridges are also along the route north and east
of the central city.
The physical condition of the rail infrastructure and the mix of
trains that use it cause various problems for the movement of freight
and passengers. There are inadequate vertical clearances for the
passage of certain types of freight since high-cube, double-stacked
container trains. There are numerous chokepoints and there is capacity-
related congestion on the Northeast Corridor and the CSX main line.
So the purpose of this study, this additional amendment that Senator
Mikulski and I will offer, is to assess these and other problems in the
freight and passenger rail infrastructure in the Baltimore region, and
to identify potential solutions to those problems. We need to get some
sense of what the possibilities are, what the costs associated with
them are, and what might be a reasonable course of action in order to
address this situation. I very much hope when that amendment is offered
our colleagues will be supportive of it.
I do want to have printed in the Record at the end of my remarks an
editorial from the Baltimore Sun about the effort of our firefighters
and other authorities who responded to this emergency entitled, ``There
when you need them.'' I ask unanimous consent that be printed in the
Record.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See exhibit 1.)
Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, I want to conclude by, again,
underscoring the very important contribution that my colleague from
Nevada has made in alerting us, not just now but over a sustained
period of time, to the importance of addressing the much broader issue.
I, of course, have focused today on this Baltimore tunnel problem, but
that is only illustrative, as it were, simply an example of the kind of
situation we are confronting in many, many parts of the country. My
colleague from Nevada, Senator Reid, has repeatedly stressed the
importance of addressing this question. His amendment, which I join in
cosponsoring, to require a study of the hazards and risks to the public
health and safety, the environment, and the economy flowing from the
transportation of hazardous chemicals and radioactive materials, and
the improvements necessary to our infrastructure, I think, is a very
important contribution. I strongly support it, and I trust when it
comes to a vote it will receive the overwhelming support of this body.
I yield the floor.
Exhibit 1
[From the Baltimore Sun, July 20, 2001]
There When You Need Them
Without warning: Emergency responses were generally good,
but luck was better, the worst did not happen.
Baltimore had a close call Wednesday. It could have been so
much worse.
Industrial chemicals that caught fire, or that did not,
might have sent toxic fumes into the downtown atmosphere,
damaging lungs and skin, invading work places and residences.
On the whole, the ugly billows from both ends of the tunnel
proved to be benign.
The whole metropolitan population is in debt to the
courageous firefighters who entered the tunnel, into the
unknown, to deal with a fire they could not locate. Also the
police, hazardous materials experts and public works workers
who toiled on no notice through the night to cope with the
fire, train mishap, water main break and power outage that
paralyzed a great city.
They had other plans for the evening. But this was their
job and they did it.
City, state and federal authorities were right to err on
the side of caution in closing roads, waterways, baseball,
business and normal life until public safety was secured.
The one thing that did not work well was the civil defense
siren. In nearly a half-century it has been tested but never
before used for a real emergency. Those who heard it did not
know what it conveyed.
Were they to duck beneath desks in event of nuclear attack?
If not, what was the loud siren saying? For those who were
just trying to go home in the evening rush hour, the best
response was to carry on doing it, assuming they heard a mere
malfunction.
People have long since learned to turn on radio, television
or the Internet--or battery-operated radios in the event of
power outage--to learn if something big is happening. The
siren probably did not alert anyone who did not already know
about it.
The emergency showed just how interconnected modern society
is, how dependent
[[Page S8052]]
we all are on everyone else functioning normally.
The disruptions to city life and to East Coast commerce
will go on for some time, More lessons will be learned in
ensuing days.
New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, Norfolk and the
rest had better pay attention. Here, but for the grace of
God, go they.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Cantwell). The Senator from Maryland.
Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I join with my colleagues, Senator
Reid and Senator Sarbanes, as an enthusiastic cosponsor of their
respective amendments that I believe, should they be agreed to, will
make America safer.
Last week in Baltimore we had a terrible train wreck in something
called the Baltimore tunnel. A train overturned. It was a freight
train. Immediately, we were not sure what was in it; what were the
consequences of a fire; were we going to have an explosion; and whether
the smoke billowing out of the tunnel was going to be a toxic plume
over Baltimore. The civil defense alarm sounded for the first time in
Baltimore in 50 years. The mayor jumped into action immediately, as did
our brave firefighters and emergency management people because we had
to both contain the fire and we had to contain panic.
I salute the mayor and the Governor for the support he gave the
mayor, and the brave men and women of our public safety organizations,
our firefighters, emergency management, public works, and also the
citizens of Baltimore.
The railroad worked in a hands-on fashion with our mayor. I am happy
to report that, as of now, we have pulled the railroad cars out, the
smoke is clearing, but now the next phase needs to begin. During this
saga that was unfolding, both in Baltimore and in the national media,
our first fear was for the firefighters, the first responders, the ones
who had to go in there and who initially were not sure what they were
going into. The temperatures were reading 1,500 degrees. You could not
get in through the smoke. They went down through manholes--let me tell
you, through a manhole to a 8-foot platform, then down another ladder
to see what the deal was. Our firefighters had to be tethered so we did
not lose them in the smoke.
You know what. They did it. They did it without flinching. They did
it without hesitation. They did it with skill. They did it with
integrity and unparalleled courage. We salute them. And also a salute
to their spouses who were there to support people doing such daring
deeds.
Yes, the railroad worked, chem-hazmat worked, but now we have to get
back to our work so we can protect the first responders, protect
property, and also protect the nearby neighborhoods.
This accident, which shut down much of Baltimore and the freight
movement in the Northeast Corridor, really was a wake-up call to take a
close look at the practice of transporting hazardous materials through
roads and tunnels. Because we do use railroads, we do use trucks, we do
need to be sure that we know what is going through our communities.
What made our quick response possible was that we had a manifest and we
knew what was happening.
We do not know the consequences of these new kinds of materials going
through together, the synergistic effects. One car had paper, the other
car had hydrochloric acid, and the other car had other hazardous waste.
One needs to be fought with water. One could have caused other problems
if you fought the fire with water. I am not evaluating the best way to
transport these items, but we have to do our homework so we can protect
our people. This is why I join with my esteemed colleague, Senator Reid
of Nevada. He has an amendment that calls upon the Secretary of
Transportation, in consultation with the Comptroller General, to
conduct a study evaluating the hazards and risks to public health,
safety, the environment, and the economy associated with the
transportation of hazardous chemical and radioactive materials; and to
take a look at our transportation infrastructure and the improvements
necessary to prevent accidents involving such chemicals and other
materials, and to examine the preparedness of Federal, State, and local
emergency and medical personnel to respond to these accidents.
Well done, Senator Reid. This is exactly the kind of amendment we
need. This is exactly the kind of amendment we need so we show we are
standing sentry over our communities and making sure we have the
infrastructure necessary to protect our communities.
That Baltimore tunnel is over 100 years old. It was built when
railroads were built. The Garret family created the B&O Railroad and it
went west. It was one of the first railroads to go west. We want those
railroads to continue to run. The Port of Baltimore will not exist
without our railroads, so we are not saying don't do it. But when we
are going to do our transportation, let's do it right.
The whole idea of examining the preparedness of Federal, State, and
local emergency and medical personnel is also appropriate. As the
chairperson of the subcommittee on VA/HUD that funds FEMA, this is also
how we need to make sure our first responders and our emergency
management people are ready. We have to have them ready as ``all
hazards'' personnel. We could have something that was an accident,
which was a chemical accident, where there are other things where there
are attacks on the United States. This is where we need to be
prepared. This is where we need to be prepared.
We salute this amendment. I hope my colleagues will endorse it.
Also, my colleague, Senator Sarbanes, has taken the leadership role
of directing the Secretary of Transportation to study existing rail
infrastructure in the Baltimore metropolitan area. It directs the
Secretary to make those recommendations because we are worried about
our rail infrastructure, including improvements in tunnels, bridges,
and other rail facilities. We want them to do it in conjunction with
the FRA, the chair of the Surface Transportation Board, the State of
Maryland, our railroad folks, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Amtrak.
The amendment calls for a study to be used, and it provides that the
railroads in the State of Maryland also join in this joint partnership.
I believe they will. These studies need to be done with a sense of
timeliness and a sense of urgency.
Thank God we escaped without the loss of life. We thank God that
there was no major loss of property. Thank God we didn't have to
evacuate communities. But an incredible economic toll resulted. It was
not only the Orioles game being canceled, but it was the delay of
freight which slowed down the corridor with enormous consequences. But
the consequences would have been even more severe had we not had the
current infrastructure in place.
I believe the best way we say thank you to the emergency management
people, our firefighters, and for the excellent job our people did in
responding is to have a parade, which I hope Baltimore has--I hope not
only with banners, which we ought to display with pride, but I also
think we should say it with deeds. And these two studies are a good way
to do it.
Madam President, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
Mr. REID. Madam President, before my friend leaves the floor, I want
to express my appreciation to her, and also the senior Senator from
Maryland for joining in this amendment.
The two Senators from Maryland can describe better than anyone here
the terror of those brave firefighters facing a tunnel a mile and a
half long, knowing there was a train in there and not knowing what was
on the train but knowing there was a lot of smoke coming from it.
This was a real act of courage, as the Senators have indicated. I
can't imagine the terror that these men and women had in fighting this
fire. From all of the accounts I have read--I have followed it very
closely--it appears that it was a picture book attack on a very
dangerous fire.
Mr. SARBANES. Madam President, will the Senator yield?
Mr. REID. Yes.
Mr. SARBANES. Actually, they knew what was in the train because they
had the railroad manifest of what was contained in the railroad cars.
They knew, in fact, there was hazardous material being carried in some
of the 60 cars that were on that train. Firefighters do a great job day
in and day out all across the country. We generally sort of simply come
to accept as a matter of
[[Page S8053]]
course the tremendous risk they run. A high profile incident like this,
of course, focuses attention back on it. There was tremendous heroism
there. But there is also tremendous heroism on the part of firefighters
taking place every day all across America in extremely dangerous
circumstances.
Mr. REID. Madam President, I again express my appreciation to the two
Senators from Maryland who have so aptly kept us on top of what was
going on there. I also join with them on this amendment.
Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the
quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the time
between now and 5:55 p.m. today be equally divided and controlled in
the usual form with respect to the amendment now pending; that at 5:55
p.m. the Senate vote in relation to the amendment, with no amendment in
order to the amendment prior to the vote, with no intervening action.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. REID. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the
quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the time during
the quorum call I will suggest in just a moment be equally charged
against both the proponents and the opponents of this amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. REID. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the
previously scheduled vote for 5:55 now occur at 5:50 under the same
conditions as previously ordered.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the Reid
amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The question is on agreeing to amendment No. 1037. The clerk will
call the roll.
The bill clerk called the roll.
Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) and
the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy) are necessarily absent.
I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from
Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy) would vote ``yea.''
Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from New Mexico (Mr.
Domenici) and the Senator from New Hampshire (Mr. Smith) are
necessarily absent.
I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from New
Hampshire (Mr. Smith) would vote ``yea.''
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Carnahan). Are there any other Senators
in the Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 96, nays 0, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 247 Leg.]
YEAS--96
Akaka
Allard
Allen
Baucus
Bayh
Bennett
Biden
Bingaman
Bond
Boxer
Breaux
Brownback
Bunning
Burns
Byrd
Campbell
Cantwell
Carnahan
Carper
Chafee
Cleland
Clinton
Cochran
Collins
Conrad
Corzine
Craig
Crapo
Daschle
Dayton
DeWine
Dodd
Dorgan
Edwards
Ensign
Enzi
Feingold
Feinstein
Fitzgerald
Frist
Graham
Gramm
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Harkin
Hatch
Helms
Hollings
Hutchinson
Hutchison
Inhofe
Inouye
Jeffords
Johnson
Kerry
Kohl
Kyl
Landrieu
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Lott
Lugar
McCain
McConnell
Mikulski
Miller
Murkowski
Murray
Nelson (FL)
Nelson (NE)
Nickles
Reed
Reid
Roberts
Rockefeller
Santorum
Sarbanes
Schumer
Sessions
Shelby
Smith (OR)
Snowe
Specter
Stabenow
Stevens
Thomas
Thompson
Thurmond
Torricelli
Voinovich
Warner
Wellstone
Wyden
NOT VOTING--4
Domenici
Durbin
Kennedy
Smith (NH)
The amendment (No. 1037) was agreed to.
Mr. REID. Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote.
Mrs. MURRAY. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Amendment No. 1038 to Amendment No. 1025
Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the Murray
amendment be laid aside, and I send an amendment to the desk on behalf
of Senator Sarbanes and Senator Mikulski and ask for its immediate
consideration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the pending amendment will
be set aside. The clerk will report.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Washington [Mrs. Murray, for Mr. Sarbanes,
for himself and Ms. Mikulski, proposes an amendment numbered
1038.
Mrs. MURRAY. I ask unanimous consent the reading of the amendment be
dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment is as follows:
(Purpose: To set aside funds for a joint study of rail infrastructure
in the vicinity of Baltimore, Maryland)
At the appropriate place, insert:
Sec. . (a) Of the funds appropriated by title I for the
Federal Railroad Administration under the heading ``Railroad
Research and Development'', up to $750,000 may be expended to
pay 25 percent of the total cost of a comprehensive study to
assess existing problems in the freight and passenger rail
infrastructure in the vicinity of Baltimore, Maryland, that
the Secretary of Transportation shall carry out through the
Federal Railroad Administration in cooperation with, and with
a total amount of equal funding contributed by, Norfolk-
Southern Corporation, CSX Corporation, and the State of
Maryland.
(b)(1) The study shall include an analysis of the
condition, track, and clearance limitations and efficiency of
the existing tunnels, bridges, and other railroad facilities
owned or operated by CSX Corporation, Amtrak, and Norfolk-
Southern Corporation in the Baltimore area.
(2) The study shall examine the benefits and costs of
various alternatives for reducing congestion and improving
safety and efficiency in the operations on the rail
infrastructure in the vicinity of Baltimore, including such
alternatives for improving operations as shared usage of
track, and such alternatives for improving the rail
infrastructure as possible improvements to existing tunnels,
bridges, and other railroad facilities, or construction of
new facilities.
(c) Not later than one year after the date of the enactment
of this Act, the Secretary shall submit a report on the
results of the study to Congress. The report shall include
recommendations on the matters described in subsection
(b)(2).
Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I urge the adoption of the amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate on the amendment? If
not, the question is on agreeing to amendment No. 1038.
The amendment (No. 1038) was agreed to.
Mr. SARBANES. Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote.
Mrs. MURRAY. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
[[Page S8054]]
Amendment No. 1039
Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I ask the pending amendment be set
aside, and I send an amendment to the desk on behalf of Mr. Thomas. I
ask for its immediate consideration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The pending amendment will be set aside and
the clerk will report the amendment.
The bill clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Washington (Mrs. Murray), for Mr. Thomas,
proposes an amendment numbered 1039.
Mrs. MURRAY. I ask unanimous consent the reading of the amendment be
dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment is as follows:
On page 66, line 8, after the word ``bus'', insert the
following phrase: ``, as that term is defined in section 301
of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C.
Sec. 12181)'';
On page 66, line 9 strike ``; and'' and insert in lieu
thereof ``.''; and
On page 66, beginning with line 10, strike all through page
70, line 14.
Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I urge adoption of the amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. If there is no further debate, the question is
on agreeing to amendment No. 1039
The amendment (No. 1039) was agreed to.
Mr. SARBANES. Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote.
Mrs. MURRAY. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
Mr. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I rise to speak on the pending Reid
amendment regarding a Department of Transportation/General Accounting
Office study on the hazards and risks to public health and safety, the
environment, and the economy associated with the transportation of
hazardous chemicals and radioactive material.
In light of the recent events in Baltimore, it is entirely
understandable that Senators from Maryland would join the Senator from
Nevada in offering this amendment. Many of our urban areas suffer from
inadequate and perhaps unsafe transportation infrastructure. However, I
hasten to point out that if this derailment had happened to a train
carrying spent nuclear fuel or other radioactive material, none of the
havoc we saw in Baltimore would have occurred. The Orioles would not
have had to cancel games and there would have been no threat to the
general public health and safety. That's because the casks used to
transport such material are subjected to rigorous safety standards by
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and are tested is such a manner to
ensure that a train derailment and any number of other accidents that
could befall the casks would neither damage the casks or allow the
release of any radioactive material.
As many of you well know, transportation is one of the key issues
that arises in the discussions we have had here on the Senate floor
when we debate the matter of how to deal with the disposal of our spent
nuclear fuel. But I need to remind everyone that we already transport
such material--and have been doing so for over 30 years. There have
been close to 3,000 shipments in this country and no fatality, injury
or environmental damage has ever occurred because of radioactive cargo.
That is not to say there have not been accidents. There have--but the
casks have performed as designed. They haven't broken open. They have
not leaked. We have done a hood job transporting spent nuclear fuel and
radioactive waste and we will continue to do so. Great precautions are
taken to avoid accidents and when and if Yucca Mountain is declared
suitable as a repository for fuel, additional transportation safety
provisions under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act will kick in to ensure
that the additional transportation of spent fuel will continue in a
safe manner.
But we don't have to wait for Yucca to open to have safety measures
in place--we already have them. Shipments are happening now and are
safe. A nuclear fuel container consists of literally tons of shielding
inside a thick steel cylinder. Any container design must be licensed by
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission before the container is used for
shipment. The NRC will not certify the container until it undergoes a
series of rigorous tests demonstrating that it is invulnerable to
impact, flames, submersion and puncture.
In addition to the safety of the casks, spent nuclear fuel may be
shipped only along specified highway routes. Shippers submit routes to
the NRC for approval ahead of time. The NRC checks that a route
conforms to U.S. Department of Transportation regulations, requiring
the most direct interstate route, and avoiding large cities when a
bypass or beltway is available. NRC officials drive the route ahead of
time if it has not been previously approved before or used within the
past few years. They will check for law enforcement and emergency
response capability as well as secure facilities for emergency stops.
DOT regulations also require that the shipper notify the governor of
each State on the route seven days be fore the trip.
Specialized trucking companies handle spent nuclear fuel shipments in
the United States. These experienced, specially licensed companies haul
all kinds of hazardous materials more than 50 million miles annually.
Vehicles are state of the art, equipped with computers that provide an
instantaneous update on the truck's location and convey messages
between driver and dispatcher through a satellite communications
network. Drivers receive extensive training and must be certified.
The DOT and NRC establish emergency preparedness requirements for
radioactive materials. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the
DOE provide emergency response training for state and local law
enforcement officials, fire fighters, and rescue squads, covering
preparedness planningandaccid4nt handling. In addition, DOE
radiological assistance teams provide expertise and equipment,
including mobile laboratories, to every region of the country. Also,
according to a voluntary mutual assistance agreement, utilities respond
to incidents in their area until emergency personnel from the shipper
and shipping utility arrive.
I have no objection to the overall purpose of the amendment however,
in having a study done on infrastructure and training. My colleagues
should be award that we already do that continuously for nuclear fuel
and high-level radioactive waste.
AMENDMENT NO. 1037
MICHIGAN CORRIDOR PROJECTS
Ms. STABENOW. Madam President, I rise to engage in a colloquy with
the distinguished senior Senator from Michigan and the distinguished
chairwoman of the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee. As the
chairwoman knows, over the past few years, the State of Michigan has
competed for funds under the Coordinated Border and Corridor Program of
the Transportation Equity Act (TEA 21). However, because of increased
earmarking, discretionary funds have been greatly diminished. This
year, both House and Senate did not contain any discretionary funds,
eliminating an important discretionary funding source for the State of
Michigan.
I would ask the distinguished chairwoman to give consideration to a
particularly important project on our U.S.-Canadian border in Michigan.
The Ambassador Bridge Gateway Project which will provide direct
interstate access to the Ambassador Bridge and improve overall traffic
flow to and from our U.S.-Canadian border, needs $10 million this year
to keep the project on schedule. To date, there has been a total of
$30.2 million in federal funds either spent or committed with a state
match of $7 million. Any consideration that the distinguished
chairwoman can provide is much appreciated.
Mr. LEVIN. I join the distinguished Senator from Michigan in asking
the distinguished chairwoman to give this important project
consideration in conference. The Ambassador Bridge in Detroit, MI is a
critical project for the State's trade infrastructure. It is one of the
three busiest border crossings in North America, and more trade moves
over this bridge than the country exports to Japan. It is crucial that
we keep traffic moving safely and efficiently at this crossing. The
Ambassador Bridge Gateway project will provide direct interstate access
to the bridge, and improve overall traffic flow to and from the
Ambassador Bridge. This project also has a wide range of
[[Page S8055]]
support from the state, local government, metropolitan planning and the
business community.
Ms. MURRAY. I thank the distinguished Senators from Michigan, and I
will be happy to work with them in conference on this important
corridor project.
____________________