Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 453 § 453.392 — Spills

Spills or releases during transportation by rail; coordinated response plan; report. (1) As part of the plan for the effective implementation of a statewide hazardous material emergency response system established by rule under ORS 453.374, the State Fire Marshal shall adopt by rule a plan for the coordinated response to oil or hazardous material spills or releases that occur during rail transport. The plan adopted under this subsection: (a) Shall address with a specific focus on oil or hazardous material spills or releases that occur during rail transport all required provisions under ORS 453.374; (b) May include requirements and incentives for local governments and other responders to participate in ongoing training programs; (c) Shall provide a system for identifying where hazardous material response resources owned by railroads are located throughout this state and how access to those resources is to be coordinated; (d) Shall include a recurring, three-year training cycle of statewide training exercises that: (A) Commences with a triennial tabletop exercise that includes the Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Transportation, the Oregon Department of Emergency Management, state and local responders, federally recognized Indian tribes in this state and railroads that operate in this state; (B) Includes, in the second year of the training cycle, a triennial statewide functional exercise to test and evaluate response capabilities, functional groups, plans, incident command staff and emergency operations centers in their abilities to respond to an oil or a hazardous material spill or release that occurs during rail transport; and (C) Includes provisions for the planning, preparation and implementation, in the third year of the training cycle, of a triennial full-scale, multiagency, multijurisdictional and multidisciplinary oil or hazardous material spill or release training exercise that: (i) Involves training for all manner of personnel necessary for a coordinated response to an oil or a hazardous material spill or release; (ii) Is intended to examine or validate the planning, coordination and command and control decisions that may be made in the event of an oil or hazardous material spill or release and to also examine or validate response-specific capabilities or functions; and (iii) Involves training that covers the entire sequence of events that take place during an oil or hazardous material spill or release incident that occurs during rail transport; and (e) Shall include any other information deemed necessary by the Department of the State Fire Marshal to provide coordinated response to oil or hazardous material spills or releases that occur during rail transport. (2) The department shall annually coordinate with local governments, other state agencies involved in hazardous material emergency response, other responders and representatives of the railroad industry to prepare a report on the coordinated response plan adopted under this section and shall: (a) Make the report available as an appendix to the Oregon Department of Emergency Management’s oil and hazardous material response emergency operations plan developed pursuant to ORS 401.092; and (b) No later than February 1 of each year, submit the report to the Legislative Assembly in the manner provided in ORS 192.245. (3) The report required by subsection (2) of this section shall include, but need not be limited to, the following in relation to oil and hazardous material emergency response for rail transport: (a) An inventory of all emergency response resources available in this state, including information on: (A) The location of, and the means of access to, the resources; (B) Whether the resources are publicly or privately maintained; and (C) Additional resources that are needed to provide for adequate response; (b) Suggested changes to the structure for the continued coordination between state agencies and industry; (c) Possible revisions to the response roles or responsibilities of state agencies, local governments and railroads; and (d) Strategies for ensuring adequate funding at the state and local government levels to cover the training, equipment and administrative costs associated with providing comprehensive response and equipment. [2015 c.739 §2; 2019 c.581 §17; 2021 c.539 §115]