CLEVELAND, June 16 — U.S. Senator Joesph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) introduced a BLET/IBT sponsored rail security bill in the Senate today that would provide a $10 million training fund for rail workers who handle hazardous materials.
The bill, known as the Hazardous Materials Vulnerability Reduction Act of 2005, would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop a comprehensive strategy for handling the transportation of the most dangerous chemicals by rail and would work with state and local officials to determine which areas are “high threat corridors.”
The bill would also earmark $10 million in training funds for the George Meany Center/ National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md., for use in its hazardous waste/chemical emergency response training programs.
“The Department of Homeland Security is still not working properly. They are ignoring a grave threat to our homeland security,” Senator Biden said. “The danger of chemicals being transported through our nation’s high threat cities is staggering. The 90-ton rail cars used to carry dangerous chemicals have been compared to rolling weapons of mass destruction. A successful attack on these targets could produce casualty rates comparable to a nuclear or biological attack.”
BLET National President Don Hahs applauded Senator Biden’s efforts.
“Increased training for rail workers is of the utmost importance in this day and age of terrorist threats on American soil,” President Hahs said. “Rail management has not done its part to provide proper training to its employees in regards to rail security. Hopefully, Senator Biden’s bill will address this serious oversight.”
In introducing the legislation, Senator Biden was critical of rail management for placing profits ahead of security.
“The financial security of big rail companies should not come before the safety and security of the American people,” said Biden. “The current state of our rail security system is worse than an accident waiting to happen, it is an open invitation to terrorists. We need to close these loopholes before terrorists exploit them. I don’t want to read a blue ribbon commission report telling us steps we could have taken. Common sense tells us we must act now.”
Biden’s bill will require the Department of Homeland Security to develop a comprehensive, risk-based strategy to protect our nation’s cities from the threat of hazardous materials shipped over the rails, including:
(1) re-route “extremely hazardous materials” around “high-threat corridors”;
(2) develop protocols to provide notice to local officials of the types and quantities of chemicals being shipped;
(3) research and develop initiatives to study security measures related to the rails and the tankers, such as physical barriers, force protection levels, passive containment technologies, and the utility of using smaller, safer tankers; and
(4) authorize $100 million to provide training for emergency services personnel and rail workers who handle hazardous materials.
During his introductory remarks on the Senate floor, Senator Biden elaborated on the rail worker training fund.
“Finally, the bill will provide $100 million to state and local governments and rail operators to purchase safety equipment and provide training to first responders and rail workers who are likely to discover and respond to an incident involving hazardous materials,” he said. “An additional $10 million will be made available to the National Labor College to provide further training for rail workers.”
Biden concluded his introductory remarks by stressing the need to improve rail security efforts.
“I realize that the rail industry has invested considerable amounts of its own money to enhance security since September 11, and this legislation is not an indictment of their efforts,” he said. “I have been pushing to get more federal funding for rail security for years, but this plea has fallen on deaf ears within the Administration. I realize that that we can not eliminate every conceivable risk, but at a time when we have troops overseas fighting the war on terror and our nation’s law enforcement agencies are on high alert, the least that we should do is ensure that we have a national strategy for handling a threat that is comparable in scope to a nuclear or biological attack. I will close by again referring to the grave warning set out in the study by the Naval Research Laboratory – ‘over 100,000 people could be seriously harmed or even killed in the first half hour’ of an attack. The danger is simply too great to ignore, and I ask my colleagues to join me in passing this critical legislation.”