I
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3383
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 4, 2011
Mr. Gonzalez (for himself, Ms. Norton, and Mr. Rangel) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To require railroad carriers to prepare and maintain a plan for notifying local emergency responders before transporting hazardous materials through their jurisdictions.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the
Safe Transportation of Hazardous
Materials Act of 2011
.
Notification requirement
Every railroad carrier engaged in the transportation of hazardous materials shall transmit to the Secretary of Transportation, and annually update, a plan for providing at least 48 hours notification to local emergency responders before transporting hazardous materials through their jurisdictions within 48 hours of a request for such information from those local emergency responders. This plan may include notification by means of county or State government agencies.
Demonstration
The Secretary of Transportation shall establish a requirement that railroad carriers periodically demonstrate to the Secretary that the procedures set forth in the plan transmitted under section 2 are adequate to provide appropriate notice to those local emergency responders if they request this information as described in section 2.
Definitions
For purposes of this Act—
the term hazardous materials means materials designated under section 5103(a) of title 49, United States Code; and
the term emergency responder means State and local emergency preparedness personnel described in section 613(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5196b(a)).