95TH CONGRESS 2d Session SENATE { REPORT No. 95-814 HAZARDOUS MATERIALS TRANSPORTATION ACT AUTHORIZATION FOR FISCAL YEAR 1979 MAY 12 (legislative day, APRIL 24), 1978.-Ordered to be printed (Filed under authority of the order of the Senate of May 11 (legislative day, APRIL 24), 1978) Mr. CANNON, from the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 1896] The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, to which was referred the bill (S. 1896) to amend the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 1979, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon with an amendment in the nature of a substitute and recommends that the bill as amended do pass. PURPOSE The purpose of this legislation is to amend the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act to provide an authorization of $5 million in fiscal year 1979 for the Department of Transportation hazardous materials transportation safety activities for fiscal year 1979. BACKGROUND AND NEED In passing the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act, Congress reorganized and revamped the Federal Government's regulatory program for the transportation of hazardous materials in commerce. This legislation evolved as a result of a series of hazardous material transportation catastrophes, and was intended to improve the regulatory and enforcement authority of the Secretary of Transportation to adequately protect the Nation against the risks to life and property which are inherent in the transportation of hazardous materials in commerce. In recent year the Department of Transportation has noted a steady rise in reported incidents involving the release of hazardous materials being transported in commerce. In recent months, a series of hazardous material incidents causing death and injury have further underscored the importance of the Federal Government's role in increasing its ability to adequately regulate the transportation of hazardous materials. A chart indicating the increased number of incidents reported involving hazardous materials is set forth below. On April 18, 1978, the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing on S. 1896, a bill to amend the Hazardous Ma S.R. 814 terials Transportation Act to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 1979. Principal witnesses who testified concerning the legislation were Leon Santman, Acting Director of the Materials Transportation Bureau (MTB) of the Department of Transportation, and James B. King, Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The Department of Transportation witness testified that the Secretary of Transportation, in a recent reorganization of his immediate offices, has consolidated technical and research functions and placed the Materials Transportation Bureau in a new Research and Special Programs Directorate. The Department indicated that this reorganization should strengthen the Department of Transportation program concerning the transportation of hazardous materials. The Committee intends to periodically review the effects of this reorganization to examine whether the MTB has in fact been strengthend by this administrative change. Department testimony dealt primarily with administrative changes, enforcement efforts, exemptions, training activities, international and interagency liaison, and budgetary concerns of the MTB's Office of Hazardous Materials Operations (ÖHMO). The Department of Transportation testimony indicated that not all provisions of the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (Public) Law 93-633) have been implemented. The committee recognized the efforts of Secretary of Transportation Brock Adams in his attempt to consolidate and improve the Department's hazardous material transportation regulations. MTB should continue its activities on the international and interagency aspects of hazardous material transportation. The Department is further encouraged to continue those activities designed to improve the coordination of Federal and State activities and regulations that affect the transportation of hazardous materials. NTSB Chairman James King in his testimony stressed the following five major areas of concern relative to the MTB programs in the area of hazardous materials:. 1. MTB has not published safety guidelines to identify accident risks before incidents occur: 2. The MTB has not established a central data system to provide information and advice to firefighters and local emergency response personnel; 3. MTB has not registered bulk carriers of hazardous materials; 4. The MTB has not established precise guidelines relative to exemption procedures; and 5. MTB has not played a leadership role in developing new emergency response techniques. With respect to Chairman King's concern over MTB's failure to adopt and publish safety guidelines to identify accident risks before incidents occur, the committee notes that several analytical techniques. have been developed to identify these major risks. MTB should give serious considerations to the publication of guidelines describing methods available for conducting safety analysis that would discover accident risks before major accidents occur. The committee received testimony indicating that the Department of Transportation has not yet implemented section 109(d) (2) of the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act. This provision would au S.R. 814 |