For Bill Information, please click HERE.   Official Text and Analysis.

Changes regulatory programs covering the overland and over-water transportation of oil, including requiring railroads to do oil spill response planning and provide information to the Department of Ecology about their oil transport activities, authorizing rule-making by the state Board of Pilotage Commissioners to require tug escorts for oil-laden vessels, and authorizing rule-making by the Utilities and Transportation Commission to set safety standards for private railroad crossings. Increases the Oil Spill Administration Tax on oil received from vessels to 10 cents per 42-gallon barrel, and expands the tax's scope to include oil received by rail and pipeline. The substitute bill makes the following changes to the original bill: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? eliminates the requirement that railroads provide the ECY with advanced transfer notices for refined petroleum products; defines the crude oil that is subject to requirements that railroads provide advanced notice of transfer to the ECY; eliminates the requirement that the ECY immediately implement railroad advanced notice of transfer requirements before it adopts related rules; clarifies that pipelines are not required to provide the ECY with advanced notices of transfer; authorizes vessels or railroad facilities to enter a port, place, or state waters without first demonstrating financial responsibility if necessary to avoid injury to the vessel or train’s crew or passengers; specifies that contingency planning, financial responsibility, and advanced notice provisions do not apply to state-owned railroads.

Makes the following changes to thesubstitute house bill:(1) Requires pipelines to include information about the types ofdiluents contained in transported oil in their twice-yearly reportsto the department of ecology.(2) Creates an exemption in the public records act forunaggregated advanced notice of transfer information submitted to thedepartment of ecology by railroads and for oil diluent informationsubmitted by pipelines, but authorizes the department of ecology toshare this information with local emergency planning committees andlocal government personnel with official emergency management duties.(3) Makes the state board of pilotage commissioners'discretionary tug escort rules and other rule making pertaining tooil bearing vessels in Puget Sound, Grays Harbor, and the Columbiariver contingent upon one of the following events taking place:(a) The governor's approval of a recommendation by the energyfacility site evaluation council to certify a facility with an oilreceiving capacity of over 50,000 barrels per day or a processingcapacity of over 25,000 barrels per day;(b) The issuance of a final permit by a state agency or localjurisdiction to site an oil refinery or terminal or to provide first-time authorization for an existing facility to receive or processcrude oil; or(c) The issuance of a final permit by the state of Oregon to sitea new facility that would be required to have a contingency plan ifit were located in Washington or to provide first-time authority fora facility to receive or process crude oil.

Makes the Oil Spill Administration Tax eight cents per 42-gallon barrel, rather than ten cents per barrel.

Limits expenditures from the Oil Spill Response Account to oil spills or threatened oil spills into state waters, rather than allowing expenditures on spills of hazardous substances. (2) Clarifies that efforts to obtain funding for response costs from responsible parties prior to spending funds in the Oil Spill Response Account and the Oil Spill Administration Account must not delay response activities. (3) Allows the advanced notice of the time of crude oil transfer involving a railroad facility that is reported to the Department of Ecology to be reported as a twenty-four hour range of time within which the transfer is expected to occur. (4) Eliminates the requirement that information be reported to the Department of Ecology about the type of oil being transported and transferred by railroad and pipeline, and instead requires information to be reported about the gravity and vapor pressure of the oil.

Makes oil received by pipeline not subject to the oil spill administration tax and the oil spill response tax. Eliminates the increase in the oil spill administration tax from four cents to ten cents per 42 gallon barrel.

Changes regulatory programs covering the overland and over-water transportation of oil, including requiring railroads to do oil spill response planning and provide information to the Department of Ecology about their crude oil transport activities, authorizing rule-making by the state Board of Pilotage Commissioners to require tug escorts for oil-laden vessels, and authorizing rule-making by the Utilities and Transportation Commission to set safety standards for private railroad crossings.

Removes requirements for contingency plans, financial responsibility, and certificates of financial responsibility. The barrel tax is applied to railroads, but not pipelines, and the increase in the Oil Spill Administration tax is removed. The revisions to the UTC fee structure are removed and replaced with authorizing the UTC to adopt rules to assess a surcharge on railroad companies operating in the state to address the costs necessary to retain no more than eight certified inspectors.

Removes the UTC surcharge and revises the fee to 2.5 percent of intrastate gross operating revenue for the purpose of administering the rail safety program. Adds a joint legislative committee meeting on oil spill prevention and response activities for international transport of liquid bulk crude oil. The rules for Grays Harbor tug escorts and safety measure do not include enrolled vessels.

Establishes minimum crew size requirements for railroadcarriers transporting hazardous materials.

Removes requirements for contingency planning andfinancial responsibility. Revises the application of the barrel tax to only railroads andretains the original tax at 4 cents per barrel. removes the uses of the oil spill response account for oil andhazardous materials emergency response planning by local emergencyresponse committees. Requires local emergency planning organizations to update theirhazardous material plans on a five-year cycle.

Retains the current UTC fee for class three railroadsthat do not haul crude oil.

Requires place of origin and gravity of crude oil to beprovided in advance notice by railroads. Requires pipelines to reporttwice per year the volume of crude oil, the type of crude oil, andthe types of diluting agents used in the crude oil. Facilities arerequired to correct inaccuracies in advance notices twice per year.

Requires the pilotage commission to adopt tug escort andsafety rules for Puget Sound by June 30, 2017.

Directs the department of ecology to evaluate vesseltraffic in the Columbia river and submit associated marine safetyrecommendations to the legislature by December 2017. Authorizes the state board of pilotage commissioners to adoptrules to require tug escorts on Grays Harbor for oil-bearing vesselsor other safety measures except for pilotage rules for Grays Harbor,if an oil facility in Grays Harbor receives siting approval orauthorization to newly receive crude oil. Requires railroads to demonstrate an ability to pay for areasonable worst case oil spill as part of their annual reportsubmitted to the utilities and transportation commission. Requires railroads to complete spill contingency plans. Requires railroad and other oil facility spill contingency plansto achieve a best achievable protection standard.

Authorizes the department of ecology to periodicallyevaluate and update planning standards for oil spill responseequipment as required for contingency planning, in coordination withupdates to vessel oil spill prevention and response planning.

Senate receded from amendment; passed with new amendment..

House concurred in Senate amendments.