I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1013 

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish and carry out a 

hazardous materials cooperative research program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 12, 2009 

Mr. CUMMINGS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Science and Technology 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish and 

carry out a hazardous materials cooperative research program. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hazardous Materials 

5 Cooperative Research Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) There are more than 1,000,000 shipments 

9 per day in the United States of materials identified 

10 as hazardous by the Department of Transportation. 


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1 These shipments are estimated to total 

2 2,100,000,000 tons of hazardous cargo per year and 

3 to comprise more than 18 percent of the total 

4 freight tonnage moved in the United States annu5 ally. 

6 (2) Hazardous materials are shipped by all 

7 transportation modes, and it is estimated that there 

8 are currently 400,000 large trucks, 115,000 railroad 

9 tank cars, and 3,000 tank barges dedicated to the 

10 shipment of hazardous materials. 

11 (3) More than a dozen Federal agencies have 

12 regulatory, enforcement, and operational responsibil13 ities for ensuring the safety and security of haz14 ardous materials shipments. In addition, a variety of 

15 State and local agencies have responsibility for de16 veloping and enforcing State-level regulations and 

17 for responding to incidents involving hazardous ma18 terials. 

19 (4) Decisions regarding the packaging and 

20 routing of hazardous materials shipments, the devel21 opment and implementation of procedures to ensure 

22 both the safety and security of such shipments, and 

23 the regulation of hazardous materials shipments are 

24 made by industry groups and government entities at 

25 a variety of levels and in all modal administrations 


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1 of the Department of Transportation on a daily 

2 basis. 

3 (5) The Federal agencies involved in the regula4 tion and oversight of hazardous materials shipments, 

5 as well as State and local governments, carriers, 

6 shippers, and other groups, conduct on-going re7 search on the transportation of hazardous materials. 

8 However, much of this research is program or mode9 specific and as such is focused on addressing only 

10 the regulatory, inspection, enforcement, or oper11 ational needs of the group undertaking the research. 

12 (6) There is a documented need for the estab13 lishment of a cooperative research program that will 

14 engage all modes and actors, both public and pri15 vate, involved in the transportation of hazardous 

16 materials in conducting cross-cutting assessments of 

17 hazardous materials transportation issues that are 

18 national and multi-modal in scope and application. 

19 SEC. 3. HAZARDOUS MATERIALS COOPERATIVE RESEARCH 

20 PROGRAM. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Transportation 

22 shall establish and carry out a hazardous materials coop23 erative research program in accordance with the require24 ments of this section. 


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1 (b) GOVERNING BOARD.—The Secretary shall estab2 lish an independent governing board to select projects and 

3 studies to be carried out under the hazardous materials 

4 cooperative research program. The governing board shall 

5 be comprised of one voting representative from each of the 

6 following: 

7 (1) The Federal Aviation Administration. 

8 (2) The Federal Motor Carrier Administration. 

9 (3) The Federal Transit Administration. 

10 (4) The Federal Railroad Administration. 

11 (5) The Maritime Administration. 

12 (6) The Research and Innovative Technology 

13 Administration. 

14 (7) The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials 

15 Safety Administration. 

16 (8) The Department of Homeland Security. 

17 (9) The Department of Energy. 

18 (10) The Environmental Protection Agency. 

19 (11) A State department of transportation. 

20 (12) A State emergency management agency. 

21 (13) A nonprofit organization representing 

22 emergency responders. 

23 (14) A hazmat employer. 

24 (15) A nonprofit organization representing 

25 hazmat employees. 


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1 (16) A labor union representing members in2 volved in shipping hazardous materials. 

3 (17) A hazardous materials manufacturer. 

4 (18) An organization representing the haz5 ardous materials manufacturing industry. 

6 (19) A research university or research institu7 tion. 

8 (20) Additional representatives as the Secretary 

9 considers appropriate. 

10 (c) RESEARCH STUDIES.—Under the cooperative re11 search program, the governing board shall select coopera12 tive research studies of hazardous materials transpor13 tation that are cross-cutting in nature and that consider 

14 issues not adequately addressed by existing Federal or pri15 vate sector research programs. Priority shall be given to 

16 research studies that will yield results immediately appli17 cable to risk analysis and mitigation or that will strength18 en the ability of first responders to respond to incidents 

19 and accidents involving transportation of hazardous mate20 rials. 

21 (d) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary shall make 

22 grants to, and enter a cooperative agreement with, the Na23 tional Academy of Sciences to carry out projects and stud24 ies under the cooperative research program. 


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1 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms 

2 ‘‘hazmat employer’’ and ‘‘hazmat employee’’ have the 

3 meanings given those terms in section 5102 of title 49, 

4 United States Code. 

5 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

6 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

7 $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2013. 

8 Such sums shall remain available until expended. 

Æ 


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