(The following story by Joseph Deinlein appeared on the York Daily Record website on May 28, 2009.)
YORK, Pa. — The federal government is requiring railroad companies to reassess how they transport hazardous materials across the country — fueling concerns that such materials could roll through parts of York and Adams counties.
But, despite indications that something new is coming down the tracks, local officials say they can’t get straight answers to vital questions of public safety.
“We’re getting everything second, third or fourth hand,” Kay Carmen, director of the York County Office of Emergency Management, said Thursday. “No one’s talked to us.”
She said she has contacted several federal and state agencies, as well as similar agencies in Maryland. She’s also called CSX Transportation — the primary rail carrier through this area.
“I realize the railroads are federally regulated, but just because they’re federally regulated, they shouldn’t use it from keeping an open dialogue with first responders who are going to be on the scene before the railroad personnel get there to take over the incident,” she said.
After months of local officials and others seeking details on the potential for an increase in hazardous materials coming through the area, CSX spokesman Bob Sullivan said Thursday it is just a rumor.
Wiggle room?
Still, the new rules set by the federal government leave some room for concern.
Documents created in December by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration outline how the agency is requiring rail companies to assess the safety and security of each of their rail lines in regards to the transport of hazardous materials, and find routes that pose the least overall risk in the event of accidents or terrorist attacks.
There are 27 different risk factors — such as population density — that must be considered by the rail companies nationwide when assessing the safety and security, said Warren Flatau, acting public affairs director for the Federal Railroad Administration.
“They have to use the safest and most secure route,” Flatau said. “They have to take a whole bunch of things into consideration. And if the FRA disagrees with their assessment, we can overrule them.”
That has many concerned that trains carrying hazardous materials could be rerouted to such relatively rural areas as York and Adams counties to avoid such populated areas as Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
While federal agencies don’t track the shipment of hazardous materials cargo day to day, the agencies do have oversight. The FRA, the Transportation Safety Administration and Department of Homeland Security have rules and regulations for the shipment of hazardous cargo by rail. Those regulations have been in place for years.
“We have a fairly robust oversight regime,” Flatau said.
Need to know
The fear among local officials still is what might be on those rail cars, regardless of the safety precautions.
Officials from the FRA, TSA and Homeland Security all say it is up to area rail companies — in this case, CSX — to tell local communities what those hazardous materials are.
And therein lies the frustration for several local officials charged with protecting the community: Response has been minimal at best.
Hanover Borough Fire Commissioner James Roth said he’s heard the rumors and read the federal reports online, but has been told very little about what to expect.
Roth said CSX does has a good track record as far as accidents go in south central Pennsylvania.
One thing to keep in mind, he said, is that hazardous materials, including chlorine and ammonia, have been hauled through the area for decades.
And the state, with assistance from CSX, has held training courses throughout the past few years about how to handle certain hazardous materials spills, Roth said.
Still, the lack of information is frustrating, especially to local officials elected or appointed to protect the public. It’s troubling because, under the FRA rules, they should be allowed to know — within reason — what that is, Flatau said.
Sullivan also said Thursday that emergency responders are entitled to know “in a general sense” what is being transported through the area.
“We’re always willing to talk to the emergency management people,” he said. “We have a thorough system in place that those people who need to know have access to that information.”
Carmen said the York County commissioners have been informed of the concerns and rumors. Those concerned about what might be happening — local municipalities, county officials and the state — should present a unified front to ask CSX what might be happening, she said.
“That would be my point altogether,” Carmen said. “We take the safety of the residents very seriously. And as much the safety of residents as the safety of the first responders.”
AVOIDING POPULATED AREAS
In its “Hazmat Routing Rule Fact Sheet,” the Federal Railroad Administration writes: “The primary safety and security concern related to the transportation of hazardous materials by rail is preventing a potentially lethal spill or release from occurring in close proximity to heavily populated areas, events or venues with large numbers of people in attendance, iconic buildings and landmarks or environmentally sensitive areas. A catastrophic event of this nature could be the result of an accident or a deliberate act.”
NEW RULES OF THE RAILS
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the Federal Railroad Administration have given rail companies in the United States until Sept. 1 this year or March 31, 2010, to implement new rules for transporting hazardous materials. The difference in startup dates depends upon whether the companies choose to use six months of data from July to December 2008, or January to December 2008.
The FRA also lists in a fact sheet about the new rules the kinds of materials it considers hazardous, requiring the rail companies to evaluate their safety. They include:
— Bulk shipments of Poison Inhalation Hazard materials, such as chlorine and anhydrous ammonia, “which are known or presumed on the basis of tests to be toxic to humans and pose a hazard to health in the event of a release during transportation;”
— More than 5,000 pounds in a single carload of certain kinds of explosive materials that pose a hazard of mass explosion, fragment projection, or a fire hazard;
— Certain high-level radioactive material shipments.