By Brad Shannon – Staff Writer
Lawmakers in the House and Senate both agree more study is needed to counteract the growing public safety risk posed by increasing shipments of oil by rail tanker cars and marine waters. But the chambers are moving along quite different tracks to deal with a risk that is still hard to quantify.
The House Environment Committee voted 8-to-5 along party lines Tuesday to approve Substitute House Bill 2347, which gives the Department of Ecology new rule-making authority to decide on tug escort requirements for shippers in Grays Harbor and along the Columbia River.
The measure from Democratic Rep. Jessyn Farrell of Seattle also requires oil refineries and recipients of shipments of oil to report quarterly to Ecology on oil shipments by railroad. But the measure was amended to ensure that data kept by Ecology is not released publicly in a way that identifies an individual refinery.
Her new version of the bill also shifted responsibility for a rail safety study from the governor’s budget office to Washington State University.
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