2SSB 6524 -
By Senator Ericksen
Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:
"NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 (1) The state of Washington has a long
history of leading in efforts to protect our natural environment while
encouraging economic opportunities. Public safety, protection of the
natural environment, and economic opportunities are goals shared by all
Washingtonians.
(2) Liquid bulk crude oil spill prevention and response programs in
Washington state, created through thoughtful cooperation and
coordination between industry and the communities they serve, is a
model to the rest of the nation and a model to the world. As modes of
transport for various types of liquid bulk crude oil change and as the
volume of liquid bulk crude oil transported through Washington changes,
it is important that proactive steps are taken to ensure public safety
and protection of natural resources.
(3) This act is intended to build upon strong and prudent plans
currently in effect, identify areas that need further protections, and
invest taxpayer funds today to increase safety and prevent spills.
(4) Prevention of crude oil spills is a top priority of the
legislature. Providing first responders, local communities, and
impacted parties with the tools to respond when spills do occur is in
the vital interest of the citizens of Washington state.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 (1) The department of ecology, in
consultation with the utilities and transportation commission, the
federal railroad administration, and industry representatives, shall
conduct a study on the safety of transporting crude oil in liquid bulk
form by rail. The study must include:
(a) A review of:
(i) The federal, state, and local emergency response and prevention
programs and activities for spills from railcars transporting liquid
bulk crude oil with a focus on high hazard areas where emergency
response equipment can be strategically placed for use by federal,
state, regional, or local governments or other emergency responders;
(ii) The capacity of local jurisdictions to prevent and respond to
liquid bulk crude oil spills;
(iii) The identification of weaknesses or gaps in federal, state,
and local liquid bulk crude oil spill prevention and response; and
(iv) Federal regulations governing liquid bulk crude oil spill
prevention and response for transport by rail;
(b) A survey of:
(i) Local government funding for emergency liquid bulk crude oil
spill prevention and response programs;
(ii) Sources of funding, entities assessed, or contributions
required by participants of emergency liquid bulk crude oil spill
prevention and response programs; and
(iii) Regional or countywide cooperative agreements implementing
liquid bulk crude oil spill prevention and response programs;
(c) Recommendations for legislative consideration on at least the
following:
(i) Levels of funding and sources of funding for emergency liquid
bulk crude oil spill prevention and response programs;
(ii) Participants that should be included in an emergency liquid
bulk crude oil spill prevention and response program and the amount
these participants should be assessed;
(iii) Appropriate use of funds such as: Liquid bulk crude oil
spill response, equipment, training, or other benefits to those who are
assessed;
(iv) Cooperative regional or countywide agreements to meet
emergency oil and liquid bulk crude oil spill prevention and response
program needs, while maintaining an individual organization's distinct
purpose; and
(v) Methods to increase cooperation and coordination among
organizations responding to oil and liquid bulk crude oil spills,
including:
(A) Sharing resources or mutual aide between terrestrial and on-water liquid bulk crude oil spill emergencies; and
(B) Communication to ensure a common understanding of the potential
threat from liquid bulk crude oil spills; and
(d) A report on the status and progress of federal rule making for
rail tank car safety requirements including model, age, modifications,
and upgrades.
(2) The department of ecology must provide: (a) A preliminary
evaluation on the status of the safety of transporting liquid bulk
crude oil in the state and include recommendations for near-term
legislative action to address needs identified in the review as
required under subsection (1)(a)(i) of this section, to the relevant
policy and fiscal committees of the senate and house of representatives
by December 31, 2014; and (b) using the study and reviews conducted
under this section, a final report regarding the safety of the
transport of liquid bulk crude oil, as well as recommendations for
policy, budget needs, or legislation to the relevant policy and fiscal
committees of the senate and house of representatives by December 31,
2015.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3 The department of ecology shall provide an
analysis on the safety of transporting liquid bulk crude oil on waters
of the state.
(1) The analysis must include:
(a) The capacity to address risks posed by increased waterborne
traffic of liquid bulk crude oil;
(b) Weaknesses or gaps in liquid bulk crude oil spill prevention
and response programs, including identification of programs that are
not complete or need to be more robust, with a focus on Grays Harbor
and the Columbia river; and
(c) Barge and tug operations within the state related to the
movement of liquid bulk crude oil; and
(d) A status report on the federal, state, and local waterborne
liquid bulk crude oil spill prevention and preparedness.
(2) The department of ecology must provide to the relevant policy
and fiscal committees of the senate and house of representatives by
December 31, 2014, a status report on waterborne liquid bulk crude oil
spill prevention and preparedness; recommendations for Grays Harbor and
the Columbia river crude oil spill prevention and preparedness; and an
analysis of barge and tug liquid bulk crude oil operations, and safety
gaps or weaknesses in liquid bulk crude oil spill prevention and
response programs and area or regional efforts.
Sec. 4 RCW 90.56.250 and 1991 c 200 s 205 are each amended to
read as follows:
(1) The department shall annually publish an index of available,
up-to-date descriptions of prevention plans and contingency plans for
oil spills submitted and approved pursuant to RCW 90.56.200, 90.56.210,
88.46.040, and 88.46.060 and an inventory of equipment available for
responding to such spills.
(2) The department shall make available on its web site: (a)
Descriptions of prevention and contingency programs for liquid bulk
crude oil spills; (b) descriptions of how the department is responding
to or has addressed public concerns regarding liquid bulk crude oil
spill prevention and response; and (c) in the event of a liquid bulk
crude oil spill, information and updates regarding all efforts taken to
clean up the spill, in consultation with and in agreement with the
unified command, if applicable. The department may not make available
on its web site specific plan elements or confidential information.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5 A new section is added to chapter 90.56 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) The department must provide to the relevant policy and fiscal
committees of the senate and house of representatives:
(a) A review of all state and federal geographic response plans as
needed in contingency plans required under RCW 90.56.210 and 88.46.060
by December 31, 2014; and
(b) Annual updates, beginning December 31, 2015, and ending
December 31, 2021, as required under RCW 43.01.036, as to the progress
made in completing state and federal geographic response plans as
needed in contingency plans required under RCW 90.56.060, 90.56.210,
and 88.46.060.
(2) The department must contract, if practicable, with eligible
independent third parties to ensure completion by December 1, 2016, of
at least fifty percent of the geographic response plans as needed in
contingency plans required under RCW 90.56.210 and 88.46.060 for the
state.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6 A new section is added to chapter 90.56 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) The owner or operator for each facility other than a
transmission pipeline shall submit to the department data and
information on the volume and type of crude oil that arrived at and
departed from the facility each month, including the place of origin of
the crude oil, the mode of arrival and departure at the facility
including, but not limited to, arrival by vessel, rail, or pipeline.
(2)(a) Any person required to present information to the department
pursuant to subsection (1) of this section may request that specific
information be held in confidence. Information requested to be held in
confidence is presumed to be confidential.
(b) Information presented to the department pursuant to subsection
(1) of this section must be held in confidence by the department or
aggregated to the extent necessary to ensure confidentiality if public
disclosure of the specific information or data would result in an
unfair competitive disadvantage to the person supplying the
information.
(c)(i) Whenever the department receives a request to publicly
disclose unaggregated information or otherwise proposes to publicly
disclose information submitted pursuant to subsection (1) of this
section, notice of the request or proposal must be provided to the
person submitting the information. The notice must indicate the form
in which the information is to be released. Upon receipt of notice,
the person submitting the information has ten working days in which to
respond to the notice to justify the claim of confidentiality on each
specific item of information covered by the notice on the basis that
public disclosure of the specific information would result in an unfair
competitive disadvantage to the person supplying the information.
(ii) The department shall consider the respondent's submittal in
determining whether to publicly disclose the information submitted to
it to which a claim of confidentiality is made. The department shall
issue a written decision that sets forth its reasons for making the
determination whether each item of information for which a claim of
confidentiality is made remains confidential or must be publicly
disclosed.
(iii) The department shall not publicly disclose information
submitted to it pursuant to subsection (1) of this section within ten
working days after the department has issued its written decision
required in (c)(ii) of this subsection.
(iv) No information submitted to the department pursuant to
subsection (1) of this section may be deemed confidential if the person
submitting the information or data has made it public.
(v) With respect to information provided under subsection (1) of
this section, neither the department nor any employee of the department
may do any of the following:
(A) Use the information for any purpose other than the statistical
purposes for which it is supplied;
(B) Make any publication whereby the information furnished by any
particular establishment or individual can be identified; or
(C) Permit anyone other than department employees to examine the
individual reports provided under subsection (1) of this section.
(d) Any confidential information pertinent to the responsibilities
of the department that is obtained by another state agency must be
available to the department and must be treated in a confidential
manner.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 7 The department of ecology and the utilities
and transportation commission shall jointly hold a symposium on
emergency prevention and response activities for liquid bulk crude oil
transported in the Pacific Northwest region. The department of ecology
and the utilities and transportation commission must invite state
representatives from the Pacific Northwest economic region authorized
under chapter 43.147 RCW and representatives from interested tribes and
local governments. The symposium must include representatives from
neighboring states, territories, and countries. The symposium must at
a minimum address:
(1) Cooperative emergency prevention and response activities
between the shared international and state borders;
(2) Expected risks posed by increased transport of Canadian crude
oil or liquid bulk crude oil throughout the Pacific Northwest region
within the next three to five years;
(3) Changes in methods for transporting liquid bulk crude oil and
associated risks;
(4) Identification of responsible agencies and corresponding
activities that can be taken to address expected risks; and
(5) Consideration of new or emerging technologies to make transport
safer.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 8 (1) The department of ecology shall provide
grants to emergency responders to assist with oil spill response and
firefighting equipment and resources needed to meet the requirements of
this act.
(2) The department of ecology, in consultation with emergency first
responders, representatives from the oil and rail industries, and
businesses that are recipients of liquid bulk crude oil shall review
grant applications.
(a) The application review must include evaluation of equipment and
resource requests, funding requirements, and coordination with existing
equipment and resources in the area.
(b) Funding must be prioritized for applicants from areas where
liquid bulk crude oil is transferred from one mode of transportation to
another.
(c) Grants must be coordinated to maximize currently existing
equipment and resources that have been put in place by first responders
and industry.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 9 This act may be known and cited as the spill
prevention and response act."
2SSB 6524 -
By Senator
On page 1, line 1 of the title, after "Relating to" strike the remainder of the title and insert "the safety of the transport of liquid bulk crude oil; amending RCW 90.56.250; adding new sections to chapter 90.56 RCW; and creating new sections."
EFFECT: Changes "hazardous materials" to "liquid bulk crude oil"; and revises the study to require Ecology to analyze waterborne transportation of liquid bulk crude oil on waters of the state.