R-14-12VILLAGE OF DEERFIELD
LAKE AND COOK COUNTIES, ILLINOIS
RESOLUTIONNO. R -14 -17
RESOLUTION REGARDING NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING PROCEEDINGS
"HAZARDOUS MATERIALS: ENHANCED TANK CAR STANDARDS AND
OPERATIONAL CONTROLS FOR HIGH - HAZARD FLAMMABLE TRAINS"
BEFORE THE PIPELINES AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS SAFETY ADMINISTRATION
IN DOCKET NO. PHMSA- 2012 -0082 (HM -251)
Whereas, each day, rail freight operations impact thousands of villages, towns, cities and
counties across all regions of the United States of America; and
Whereas, safe rail operations are of critical interest to local units of government based on the
need to prevent catastrophic accidents like the one that occurred in Lac - Megantic, Canada in July 2013
as well as several others since then; and
Whereas, local governments have the responsibility to provide emergency response to manage
the impact of rail accidents and derailments in communities across the country and to oversee clean up
and environmental remediation; and
Whereas, clean up, environmental remediation, medical expenses other personal injury
damages or wrongful death claims for community residents have the potential to surpass the rail
industry's ability to pay for them; and
Whereas, ethanol, crude oil, and other flammable Class 3 hazmat are a large and exponentially
growing segment of rail freight being shipped across the nation and will continue as a growing and
market - flexible transport mode for this hazmat; and
Whereas, since 1991, it has been known to industry and federal regulators that there are safety -
related defects in the DOT -111 tank car that serves as the primary tank car used in the shipping of
these hazardous flammable materials via freight rail; and
Whereas, the federal Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)
regulates the safe transport of hazardous materials by railroads in the United States with the mission
"to protect people and the environment from the risks of hazardous materials transportation "; and
Whereas, the business decisions of railroad companies and hazardous material shippers impact
the safety, environment, and emergency response systems in the communities in which the freight
railroads traverse, but state and local governments have no ability to regulate railroad operations; and
Whereas, industry has failed to act in the last two decades to correct the known safety
deficiencies in DOT -111 tank cars despite repeated National Transportation Safety Board warnings,
and waited until 2011 to seek government approval to upgrade safety standards for tank cars meant to
carry liquid hazmat; and
Whereas, the comments submitted to PHMSA on December 5, 2013 by Barrington, Illinois
and the Illinois TRAC Coalition reflect the point of view of local governments, which is supported by
recommendations of the National Transportation Safety Board, that changes are needed in federal
regulations and/or law to better protect public safety relative to tank car safety standards; and
Whereas, the August 1, 2014 NPRM released by PHMSA proposed various regulatory options
for improving the crashworthiness of tank cars consisting of three standards of robustness and Option 1
is the best solution for maximizing the crashworthiness of tank cars and will best protect the public's
safety; and
Whereas, the NPRM undercuts the strength of the proposed rules by limiting its coverage to
only "high- hazard flammable trains" (HHFTs), defined as trains composed of 20 or more cars of Class
3 flammable liquids, and thereby exempts over 40% of rail car origins involving Class 3 hazmat
commodities; and
Whereas, placed in the 2012 data context provided by PHMSA, this exempts from improved
safety regulations 281,404 tank car originations annually — or 771 carloads of flammable hazmat
traveling each day of the year in deficient tank cars throughout the United States; and
Whereas, if PHMSA does not bar the use of DOT -111 tank cars for all flammable hazmat
service in its new regulations, those deficient tank car will be allowed to carry dangerous liquid hazmat
for the remainder of their useful life (up to another 40 years); and
Whereas, any regulatory solution should solve the whole problem and not provide the public
with a false sense of security around the rail transport of hazmat because federal Hazardous Materials
Regulations (HMR) are designed "to ensure that hazardous materials are packaged safely" — meaning
ALL hazmat, and not just large quantities; and,
Whereas, PHMSA's rationale for limiting the coverage of its new rules to HHFTs is not
supported by the evidence the agency provides from its review of 46 mainline derailments that
occurred between 2006 and 2013, in that those derailments show that the breach of even a single or a
small number of tank cars can result in a significant release of hazmat; and
Whereas, a DOT -111 tank car is too dangerous for the shipment of any Class 3 hazmat and
allowing a regulatory gap that extends their use for this transport will likely encourage industry to
make operational changes that will continue to endanger the public and pose an environmental hazard;
and
Whereas, it is critical in the event of a hazardous materials rail incident that local emergency
responders are prepared and have access to adequate resources to appropriately respond; and
Whereas, preparation begins with local responder knowledge of what hazardous material is
passing through a locality and the proper response beforehand, and
Whereas, railroads have the ability to inform local emergency responders about the hazmat
threat to their localities and provide training for response to such, including information about the
location and sufficiency of railroad assets which can be deployed to assist in an emergency response,
and
Whereas, railroads have the ability to make the existence and location of hazardous cargo
consists available promptly and directly to local emergency responders in the event of a rail incident;
Therefore, Be It Resolved by the Corporate Authorities of the Village of Deerfield, Illinois, as
follows:
Section 1: We support comments seeking to insure that all tank cars used in the transport of
Class 3 flammable hazmat, not only those in HHFTs, will be covered by the agency's new rules.
Section 2: We support comments supporting the Option 1 tank car standards, as that
maximizes the crashworthiness and best protects public safety, as outlined in detail in Docket No.
PHMSA- 2012 -0082 (HM -251).
Section 3: We support comments seeking to require railroads to provide to local emergency
responders: adequate and timely information about the hazmat traveling through their jurisdictions,
sufficient training to prepare for emergencies, including response support from the railroads
transporting such hazmat in order to provide an effective and coordinated response to hazmat rail
incidents.
Section 4: This Resolution shall take effect from and after its passage and approval as
provided by law.
Section 5: This adopted Resolution shall be sent to the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration in Docket No. PHMSA- 2012 -0082 (HM -251) urging expeditious action so that
rail transport of all Class 3 hazmat is covered by the rules promulgated from the August 1, 2014
PHMSA NPRM.
PASSED THIS 15th DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 2014 BY ROLL CALL VOTE AS FOLLOWS:
AYES: Benton, Farkas, Seiden, Struthers
NAYS: None
ABSENT: Nadler
F41 oa IF41 `
APPROVED THIS 15th DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 2014
BY: ] p
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Mayor
ATTESTED AND FILED THIS 15`s �1✓ DAY �OFSEPTEMCBER, 2014
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