Good afternoon Chairman Sarlo and members of the committee. Thank you for this opportunity to provide my testimony in opposition to S3389, which will move forward common sense safety measures for hazmat rail. My name is Alex Ambrose and I am a policy analyst with New Jersey Policy Perspective. NJPP is a non-partisan, non-profit research institution that focuses on policies that can improve the lives of low- and middle-income people, strengthen our state’s economy, and enhance the quality of life in New Jersey.
While moving hazardous materials (hazmat) by rail is the safest form of transportation for these dangerous chemicals, it still poses risks, particularly for the most vulnerable New Jersey communities and our first responders. Even as rail incidents have declined overall, incidents involving hazardous materials have increased and are still growing. One of the most startling revelations that came out of the 2023 East Palestine, Ohio disaster is that the train involved in the explosion was headed for south Jersey. That disaster was all too familiar for those New Jerseyans who still remember the 2012 Paulsboro derailment, in Senator Burzichelli’s district; many of those residents are still dealing with long-term physical and emotional consequences of exposure to toxic chemicals.
Policies like those proposed in this bill — including reducing train length, requiring wayside defect detectors, requiring a two-person crew, and mandating safety reporting and inspections — are how we start to mitigate those disasters. Requiring corporations to have a response plan in place prior to an incident is just common sense.
State leaders must take action to require safety measures because it is clear that corporations are unlikely to voluntarily increase safety measures. In the last decade, the seven biggest railroad corporations spent nearly double as much on stock buybacks, cash distributions, and dividends than on infrastructure investments. More specifically, in 2022, Norfolk Southern, the corporation responsible for the East Palestine disaster, spent three times as much on stock buybacks than on safety.
But when corporations are forced to prioritize safety measures, there are improvements. While four of the five biggest railroads faced higher accident rates last year, one saw them go down: Norfolk Southern saw their accident rates reduced after they were essentially forced to invest more in safety and infrastructure updates after the 2023 disaster in Ohio.
This bill moves forward evidence-based corporate responsibility measures to better protect New Jersey communities. Research shows that the two biggest factors that lead to hazmat rail incidents are track factors and human error. This bill, with its provisions to reduce train length, require wayside defect detectors, require a two-person crew, and mandate safety inspections and reporting, starts to address those factors. The train length requirement is a particularly important provision because it not only reduces the total overall amount of hazmat that could be involved in an incident, but also addresses the fact that the length of the train itself can be a hazard. The longer the train during a derailment incident in a densely populated state like New Jersey, the more likely a stopped train can block off parts of a community from emergency services.
It’s time to take the lessons to heart: We need lawmakers to lead the way on increasing corporate responsibility for safety to ensure that we do not continue to see disasters like Paulsboro and East Palestine. Residents’ safety, health, and well-being should come first in the Garden State and shouldn’t be threatened by opaque and unregulated corporate policies.
Thank you for moving this bill forward and we look forward to your continued leadership on this issue.
