[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 178 (Thursday, December 20, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13960-S13961]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ROCKEFELLER:
  S. 1871. A bill to direct the Secretary of Transportation to conduct 
a rail transportation security risk assessment, and for other purposes; 
to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, it is my pleasure today to introduce 
the Safe Rails Act of 2001. This bill will protect the lives of 
millions of Americans by providing our Nation's freight railroads and 
hazardous materials shippers with the ability to enhance the security 
of hazardous materials shipped on the Nation's freight rail network.
  The Safe Rails Act will require the Department of Transportation to 
focus its attention on the significant potential for harm to human 
health and public safety posed by terrorist attacks on our Nation's 
freight rail infrastructure. In performing the risk assessment called 
for in the bill, the Secretary of Transportation will be able to make 
use of the expertise of the various companies and industries involved 
in the transportation of hazardous materials. Upon completion of the 
assessment, the Secretary will administer a 2-year Rail Security Fund 
to assist railroads and hazardous materials shippers in paying the 
extraordinary costs associated with their post-September 11 activities 
to secure rail infrastructure and rolling stock.
  Among the painful lessons we have learned from the sad and alarming 
events of the past three months, one of the most obvious is that 
security measures for much of our Nation's transportation 
infrastructure needs immediate improvement. Americans had, for the most 
part, taken for granted that life in the United States was safe from 
the senseless violence that occurs all too often elsewhere on the 
planet. When terrorists used hijacked airlines as missiles against our 
people, or transformed the mail into a means of spreading illness and 
death, we awoke in this country to the potential for harm that exists 
in the misuse of things we depend upon every day.
  We depend on few things like we depend on our transportation system. 
I hope my colleagues in the Senate will agree with me that to 
adequately protect our homeland security, it is absolutely necessary 
that Congress, the administration, and the various transportation 
industries cooperate on a comprehensive evaluation and enhancement of 
transportation security. I believe we must act soon, and not wait for 
our ocean-going vessels, our long-haul trucks, or our passenger rail 
system to be used as tools of terrorist aggression against our fellow 
citizens.
  I have offered this legislation today because the threat to Americans 
from a terrorist act against a freight railroad carrying hazardous 
materials may be greater than the threats against all of those other 
modes combined. Several analyses undertaken even before September 11 
point to the chemical industry and the railroads that carry the bulk of 
its products as likely targets of terrorism. Our economy, and indeed, 
our public health, depend on the movement of these chemicals. In the 
days immediately after September 11, for example, a disruption of rail 
traffic resulted in some major cities having only a few days' supply of 
water-purifying chlorine at their disposal. It is quite obvious, I 
believe, that we must safeguard movement of these life-saving, although 
potentially dangerous, chemicals.

  There is legislation before the Senate that would protect the 21 
million passengers Amtrak carries every year. I would encourage all my 
colleagues to support this common-sense legislation. Before we enact 
that legislation and think we have completed our job, I would just say 
to my colleagues that the passenger rail traffic in this Nation covers 
only about one-sixth of the 140,000 miles in the country's freight rail 
network.
  The freight rail network, which passes through or near virtually 
every

[[Page S13961]]

small town and large city in the country, carries more than 1.7 million 
carloads, many millions of tons, of chemicals and other hazardous 
materials each year. More than 50,000 carloads of ``poison by 
inhalation'' chemicals, including chlorine, are transported within a 
few miles of a huge percentage of our population. It is not my purpose 
to alarm my colleagues or the public at large. The simple fact is, 
however, the Safe Rails Act will protect millions of Americans living 
or working in proximity to the facilities manufacturing these hazardous 
materials, or the trains carrying them.
  Very briefly, the Safe Rails Act would require the Secretary of 
Transportation to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the security 
risks on our entire rail system, with special emphasis given to a 
security needs assessment for the transportation of hazardous 
materials.
  The bill creates a Rail Security Fund, to be administered by the 
Secretary, to reimburse or defray the costs of increased or new 
security measures taken by railroads, hazardous materials shippers, or 
tank car owners, in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11. 
In conducting the required assessments, the Secretary will consult with 
and may use materials prepared by the railroad, chemical, and tank car 
leasing industries, as well as any relevant security analyses or 
assessments prepared by Federal or State law enforcement, public 
safety, or regulatory agencies.
  The Secretary will develop criteria to determine the appropriateness 
of full or partial reimbursement for various security-related 
activities. The Secretary may consider, but will not be limited to, 
using the Fund to help pay for costs incurred due to the following 
security-related activities: unanticipated rerouting or switching of 
trains or cargoes, and the express movement of hazardous materials to 
address security risks; hiring additional manpower required to increase 
security of the entire rail network, including rail cars on leased 
track; the purchase of equipment or improved training to enhance 
emergency response in hazardous materials transportation 
incidents; improvements in critical communications essential for rail 
operations and security, including: Development and deployment of 
global positioning tracking systems on all tank cars transporting high 
hazard materials; and development of secure network to provide 
hazardous materials shippers and tank car owners information regarding 
credible threats to shipments of their products or rolling stock; 
investment in the physical hardening of critical railroad 
infrastructure to enable it to withstand terrorist attacks; tank car 
modifications, or storage of additional tank cars in excess of the 
number normally stored on-site at shippers' facilities, as mandated by 
federal regulators; research and development supporting enhanced safety 
and security of hazardous materials transportation along the freight 
rail network, including: technology for sealing rail cars; techniques 
to transfer hazardous materials from rail cars that are damaged or 
otherwise represent an unreasonable risk to human life or public 
safety; systems to enhance rail car security on shipper property.

  Mr. President, the Safe Rails Act is crucially important legislation 
for the safety and security of our country, and for the protection of 
human health all along our Nation's rail network. I thank the chairman 
of the Commerce Committee for his commitment to mark this bill up early 
next year. I strongly urge the leadership of the Senate to schedule 
consideration of this legislation early in the next session of the 
107th Congress, and I encourage my colleagues to support its passage.
                                 ______