A Responder’s Look at Crude Oil Derailments

The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee will be holding a hearing tomorrow looking at “An assessment on how to keep our railways safe for passengers and communities”. The witness list includes:

• Anthony Foxx, Department of Transportation;

• Deborah Hersman, National Transportation Safety Board;

• Barb Graff, City of Seattle Office of Emergency Management; and

• Tim Pellerin, Town of Rangeley, Maine, Fire Department

I overlooked this in my earlier post on congressional hearings for this week because of the ‘passengers’ thing. A press release from Sen. Collins (R,ME), the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, points out that Chief Pellerin was a responder to the crude oil train derailment at  Lac-Mégantic on July 6, 2013. That certainly means that the ‘and communities’ portion of this hearing will look at the effects of freight derailments.