Legislative Leadership Looking To Undermine State Control on Rail Safety

On the same day news broke that 20,000 gallons of oil spilled from a derailed train in Illinois, we learned Republican Legislative leadership in North Dakota is looking to scrap the relatively new state-run rail inspection program. The state-run program debate started in North Dakota during the 2014 campaign for the Public Service Commission. You may recall, that 2014 race was between appointed Commissioner Julie Fedorchak and myself. I introduced the idea in July, Fedorchak followed in August with a similar proposal, and it was a key issue throughout the election season. The bottom line is Fedorchak won, I returned to the Senate, and she followed through on getting a state-run rail program in the PSC budget passed in the 2015 legislative session.

The passage of this program wasn’t easy. Short-sighted members in the North Dakota House tried to defeat the program. Through back and fourth debates in the Senate and House, the state ended up with one full-time inspector and one “temporary” inspector that didn’t receive full state employment status. State agencies have increasingly been allowed to use “temporary employees” to increase their workforce without adding “Full-Time Equivalent” employees that the Legislature dreads. It was dubbed a “pilot project” and allowed to operate for four years. We are two years into the project. It is a start to ensure another set of eyes are inspecting our railroad tracks and finding defects needing correction. Approximately 2,700 defects have been found in those two years.

Those opposed to the program in 2015 spoke as if this rail inspection was an attack on the oil industry. It was a simple-minded attack back then just as the reasoning to eliminate the program is now. Back then, the program was heightened in the general public’s awareness because of high-profile derailments like the explosion in Casselton. The train exploded because it was carrying crude oil from the Bakken. Therefore, attempts to improve infrastructure must be anti-oil, right? Wrong.

Now, Rep. Al Carlson and Sen. Rich Wardner – the Republican leadership in the Legislature – say the program isn’t needed because more oil is shipped through pipelines. True, but somehow it has escaped them it isn’t just oil that is transported on our rail system. Don’t they think our farmers would like to safely get their fertilizer on this same system? Don’t they want these same farmers to get their grain transported on a strong, safe rail system? The other argument they’ll likely use is budgetary. Don’t fall for it. This program is funded by a tax the railroads already pay, not from general fund dollars or other buckets used for state programs.

Thirty other states have a state-run program to supplement the Federal Railroad Administration. We were late to the game and only joined after high-profile derailments. Reactionary, not visionary. The same Republican legislators who campaign on the need to reduce federal government while promoting local control seem to be hypocrites, particularly in this instance. If the Legislature successfully eliminates this program in 2019, it would be another step backward. One way to prevent the backward slide change who is in the Legislature to ensure our infrastructure is safe.