LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Nevada Democrats Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Rep. Dina Titus said more needs to be done in Washington to prevent a train derailment and inform responders after the 8 News Now Investigators’ reporting about hazardous materials on trains.
Following February’s train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, leaders in Congress began working on new legislation to beef up federal regulation and security. One measure, called the DERAIL Act, would ensure railroad companies follow certain safety precautions.
The nearly two-mile-long train in East Palestine was transporting “20 placarded hazardous materials tank cars transporting combustible liquids, flammable liquids, and flammable gas, including vinyl chloride,” the NTSD said.
An 8 News Now Investigators’ report found the Federal Railroad Administration, nor any government agency could tell the 8 News Now Investigators what specific hazardous materials the trains, some traveling right through Las Vegas, are carrying.
“We are required by federal law to transport chemicals and other hazardous commodities that Americans use daily, including fertilizer, ethanol, crude oil and chlorine,” a Union Pacific spokesperson said. The details stopped there.
“What the trains are carrying is not shared with local jurisdictions,” a spokesperson for the City of Las Vegas said. Both he and a representative from Clark County advised the 8 News Now Investigators to ask Union Pacific for details.
The trade group fact sheet about what commodities run through Nevada was “redacted to preserve confidentiality.”
“There’s legislation right now to really start having hearings and ask these questions: Where’s the transparency? Where’s the accountability? What should it look like?” Cortez Masto said Friday. “Yes, we want to preserve national security we want to protect a business’s propriety information, but at the same time, we have to balance that with keeping our communities safe.”
Clark County, Las Vegas and Henderson have specific plans and specialized teams in place should a Hazmat rail emergency occur. The county’s emergency plans, published in January 2022, use data as old as 2005 with no specifics about what chemicals are on the trains.
Instead, the emergency plan includes a phone number for a railroad representative to call about specific shipments in the event of a Hazmat response. Representatives from Union Pacific add their trains are safe and there are measures in place to ensure safety on the tracks. The company has a 24/7/365 response center, a spokesperson said, and advises emergency responders to use an app to learn what is being transported in an emergency.
Alongside the DERAIL Act, Assembly Bill 456 in Carson City would limit train length to 7,500 feet and ensure sensors on tracks.
Over the past 10 years, 43 trains have derailed in Nevada, according to the FRA. Just one derailment involved what the agency calls a Hazmat release. The report for that derailment, which occurred at a slow speed in a rail yard, only said it involved an “alcohol of unknown amount.”
“Railroads in Nevada run right through our largest communities. A spill of dangerous materials would be disastrous in terms of human and financial costs,” Titus said in a statement. “Having previously served on the House Railroads Subcommittee, I’ve long advocated for improving the safety of our rail lines and have pressed the railroads on their concerning practices. This Congress I’m glad members are putting forth legislation like the DERAIL Act, which I strongly support, to improve safety requirements for trains carrying hazardous materials. I will continue to work with my colleagues on common-sense solutions to prevent more derailments and toxic exposure incidents like we saw in East Palestine.”
Both Cortez Masto and Titus have expressed their concerns about any proposals to transport nuclear material on railroad tracks through Nevada, specifically to Yucca Mountain. The Biden Administration previously promised to abandon a plan to store federal waste there.
On the state level, Assembly Bill 456 was under consideration in the Nevada Senate as of Friday.
