Due to freight trains transporting rising volumes of hazardous materials through Ohio every day, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) recently introduced a bill that will protect communities in Ohio from potential oil train accidents.
The bill would remove unsafe oil trains from operations and provide first responders with adequate resources to remedy accidents if they do occur.
In the past four months, there have been five accidents involving oil train transports. The accidents have occurred in West Virginia, Iowa, Illinois, and Ontario, Canada, and have resulted in fiery explosions. These incidences make it even more urgent that the bill be passed.
“We have seen too many derailments of trains with unsafe, outdated cars, yet new rules to take old cars off the tracks have languished for months,” Brown said. “It’s time to get tough on crude-by-rail safety before another accident occurs. This bill would help phase-out old cars and equip our first responders with the resources they need in the event of a derailment.”
This bill, titled the Hazardous Materials Rail Transportation Safety Improvement Act of 2015, has received support from Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Bob Casey (D-PA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Mark Warner (D-VA).
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