AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Legislature is considering a bill that would repeal an earlier act that created confidentiality for information about hazardous material transported on railroads.
LD1937, sponsored by House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland) and co-sponsored by Sen. Richard A. Bennett (R-Portland), would repeal the bill passed in 2015. The Bangor Daily News, as part of an editorial supporting the new bill, says the earlier legislation was vetoed by then-Gov. Paul LePage, but the veto was overridden. It was intended to aid in sharing information with first responders, but contained no actual requirement to do so, according to the newspaper.
The new bill, presented as emergency legislation, would take effect upon approval, rather than in the usual 90 days after passage. It is in response to a CPKC derailment and fire in a remote area of northern Maine that injured three crew members [see “Fire chief calls it a ‘miracle’…,” Trains News Wire, April 17, 2023]. Three locomotives and nine cars derailed in that incident, but cars that did not derail included hazardous materials.
in the event of an accident first responders should be able to instantly download all the hazardous materials placard information without having to get up close to those leaked or burning materials.
One of the requirements of Hazardous Materials shipments is the trailer or rail car must display placards identifying the shipment, and hazard.
First responders can then take their orange Emergency Response Guide(ERG), and read in general how to respond.
Of course the response guide can be anything from don’t get on your skin to evacuate a mile or more. Depending on the material.
This has interrnational implications. The CPR line through Maine is predominantly a shortcut to get from Quebec to the Bay of Fundy port of Saint John. Remember CPR 41-42, The Atlantic Limited from Montreal to Saint John? That’s the route.
On the prime subject of the bill, it’s absurd to keep first responders ignorant of any hazmats in a derailment.
I guess They Didn’t Read It To See What Was In The Bill. Then again, maybe the Gov. Did Read The Bill. endmrw0520231656SGA
Oh they read it, heck they wrote it. And I’m guessing it was written with the aid of rail lobbyists.