Hazardous Materials Rail Transportation Safety Improvement Act of 2015

Hazardous Materials Rail Transportation Safety Improvement Act of 2015

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to establish in the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund a separate Hazardous Liquids Rail Spill Liability Account, from which expenditures may be made only for:

• prevention, removal, and enforcement related to oil discharges resulting from rail transportation of that oil; and
• any response action authorized by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 attributable to releases of hazardous substances resulting from their rail transportation.

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act are amended to:

• impose liability on each responsible party for a vessel or a facility from which oil is discharged that poses a substantial threat to public health or welfare resulting from rail transportation of such oil; and
• require the Environmental Protection Agency to designate as a hazardous substance any Class 3 material (including combustible liquids) in packing group I, II, or III and discharged due to rail transportation.

The IRC shall impose a fee at specified rates on: (1) the placement of any hazardous flammable liquids into a DOT-111 tank car at any location in the United States, and (2) the entry into the United States of any DOT-111 tank car carrying any hazardous flammable liquids. Such fees shall be deposited in the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.

A qualified tank car conversion credit shall be allowed for 15% of expenditures paid or incurred in converting a qualified CPC-1232 tank car into a tank car meeting the requirements and standards of the enhanced tank car final rule.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) training curriculum for public sector emergency response and preparedness teams regarding the transportation of hazardous materials shall include a course of study for responding to an accident or incident involving trains transporting at least 20 tank cars of flammable liquids or gases.

DOT shall make high hazard train grants to states and Indian tribes to develop, improve, and carry out emergency plans for communities through which railroads transport a train or trains hauling at least 20 tank cars of flammable liquids or gases. The federal share of each high hazard train grant shall be 100% in FY2015-FY2017 and 80% in each subsequent fiscal year.

DOT shall also make grants to state and local governments for local projects, activities, and personnel that mitigate the impacts of, and public health or environmental risks associated with, the transport of flammable liquids or gases by rail.

Within one year after enactment of this Act the Federal Railroad Administration must implement specified recommendations of the National Transportation Safety Board.

DOT shall study:

• the routes of trains transporting at least 20 tank cars of flammable liquids or gases,
• the availability of equipment and fire-fighting materials appropriate for a large-scale release of flammable liquids or gases along those routes, and
• whether train length correlates with the severity and frequency of train derailments.

The Department of Commerce, in coordination with DOT, shall determine the number and types of rail tank cars used to carry Class 3 hazardous materials.

The Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy shall conduct a quarterly survey to collect information regarding the volume of flammable energy products transported by rail and their origins and destinations.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov