HR 851 Introduced – ECP Brakes

Last month Rep. Herrera-Beutler introduced HR 851, the Oil and Flammable Material Rail Transportation Safety Act. This bill would reinstate the electronically-controlled pneumatic brake provisions of 49 CFR 174.310 for highly-hazardous flammable unit trains (HHFUT). This bill is identical to HR 7076 from last session. Since Herrera-Beutler is still not on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration, this bill will die from lack of attention unless she attracts a cosponsor assigned to that Committee.

HR 7076 Introduced – Electronically Controlled Breaks

Last week Rep. Herrera-Beutler introduced HR 7076, the Oil and Flammable Material Rail Transportation Safety Act. The bill would require DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) to re-instate 49 CFR 174.310 requirements for electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes on high-hazard flammable unit trains (HHFUT) operating in excess of 30-mph.

Those ECP requirements were removed by PHMSA in a final rule on September 25^th, 2018. That action was required by Congress in §7311 of the FAST Act (PL 114-94, 129 Stat. 1601) after PHMSA published the new regulatory impact analysis (RIA) (.PDF Download) required by that act that showed that the costs of the ECP requirement significantly outweighed the benefits (see pgs 78-9 of the RIA).

Section 2 of the bill would nullify that rulemaking and return the ECP brake requirements to §174.310.

Moving Forward

Herrera-Beutler is not a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that she is unlikely to have the influence necessary to have the bill considered in Committee.

There would be significant railroad opposition to this bill which means that it would likely draw major opposition in Committee and on the floor of the House if it were to make it that far. The bill is extremely unlikely to be considered in the 115^th Congress and would not pass if it were.

Commentary

This is an unusual bill to be proposed by a Republican, but her district is well known for its concern about the oil trains moving through the area, so the bill makes good sense from a campaign perspective in that district. I doubt that there is any downside in corporate support because of the introduction of this measure since the railroads would certainly understand that this bill will not go anywhere in this Congress.

Bills Introduced – 10-19-18

Yesterday with both the House and Senate meeting in pro forma session (ie: 90+% of the congresscritters staying at home campaigning) there were 10 bills introduced. One of those bills is likely to receive further consideration in this blog:

HR 7076 To reinstate requirements pertaining to electronically controlled pneumatic brake systems on high-hazard flammable unit trains, and for other purposes. Rep. Herrera Beutler, Jaime [R-WA-3] 

Since Herrera-Beutler is representing Vancouver, WA, which is well known for its desire to restrict the operation of oil trains, I suspect that this bill is more about campaigning than legislating. Still, it will be interesting to see how bill intends to get around the cost-benefit issue that allowed the Trump Administration to kill the ECP brake requirements.