This week, the U.S. Department of Transportation took action to hold the freight rail industry accountable and improve safety. The tragedy in East Palestine is a reminder of the importance of the work that goes into transportation safety – and we are so inspired and grateful for the FRA and PHMSA personnel who were there on the ground within hours of the derailment.

As the Secretary put it: “We’re also holding ourselves to highest standards in terms of the work that we’re doing and the work we’re going to continue to do to both respond to this incident and to make sure that we make rail safer to everyone who is in a community that is close to rail lines and anybody who is involved in freight rail at all.”

Sharing below a roundup of the latest activities and opportunities to engage with DOT and the Biden Administration. Thanks as always for your interest – if you know others who would like to receive these updates, please direct them to sign up here. 

Secretary Buttigieg Travels to East Palestine to Assess Post-Derailment Safety Needs

Yesterday, Secretary Pete Buttigieg traveled to East Palestine, Ohio and met with local officials and community members affected by the Norfolk Southern hazardous train derailment. While in Ohio, the Secretary visited the site of the derailment, held a media availability and received an update on the ongoing investigation from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), an independent federal agency, which issued its Preliminary Report and accompanying press release on the incident on Thursday morning.  As part of the continuous federal response to the East Palestine incident, investigators from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) were on the ground in the hours after the Norfolk Southern derailment and are actively supporting the NTSB investigation.

The Secretary’s visit came after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is leading federal response efforts in East Palestine, announced on Tuesday that response efforts would formally transition from the emergency phase to a longer-term remediation phase. Also on Tuesday, Secretary Buttigieg issued a set of actions that DOT, the rail industry, and Congress can take immediately — without waiting for the NTSB’s report on East Palestine — to increase rail safety on the tracks that run through communities across the country. The Secretary has also directed FRA staff to speed up work on its final Train Crew Size Rule, which will establish safe minimum requirements for the size of train crews, depending on the type of operation. The Secretary also reminded Norfolk Southern’s CEO about the “urgent need for Norfolk Southern to demonstrate unequivocal support for the people of East Palestine and the surrounding areas.” The Secretary stressed that the railroad must fulfill its commitment to take care of residents affected by the derailment, now and in the future. 

Secretary Buttigieg Calls on Rail Industry to Act Immediately to Improve Accountability and Safety

Earlier this week, as local, state, and federal officials continued to investigate the cause of the February 3 freight rail derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and monitor public health conditions, Secretary Buttigieg on Tuesday called for a three-pronged push to improve safety and hold the freight rail industry accountable. That includes laying out immediate steps for Class 1 Railroads to take to improve rail safety in communities across America and to improve working conditions for rail employees. It comes on the heels of the Secretary’s February 19 letter to Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw, in which the Secretary called for an end to the rail industry’s “vigorous resistance” to increased safety measures, which has included litigation and lobbying Congress. Railroads should take several actions, including requiring the owners of tank cars to expedite the phase-in of safer DOT-117 Tank Cars and to offer paid sick leave for rail workers; Congress should increase the maximum fines that DOT can issue to rail companies for violating safety regulations from the current maximum fine of $225,455; and DOT will advance the Train Crew Size Rule and initiate a focused safety inspection program on routes over which trains with large volumes of hazardous material travel.

FRA and PHMSA Support Administration Activities in East Palestine

On Wednesday, officials from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)  traveled to East Palestine as part of DOT’s continuing support of the NTSB’s investigation into the cause of the February 3 Norfolk Southern derailment. FRA Administrator Amit Bose and PHMSA Deputy Administrator Tristan Brown took part in a scheduled inspection of the 11 derailed tank cars involved in the incident and toured the site of the derailment with firefighters, rail car owners, support staff from Norfolk Southern, and the NTSB. Such inspections are a necessary step in the ongoing investigation to identify failure mode and mechanism, looking for conditions of the tank car that do not comply with the regulation or the design requirements, as well as photographing and documenting the tank cars.

Also on Wednesday, Administrator Bose and Deputy Administrator Brown gathered with representatives of a host of key railroad labor organizations for a listening session focused on actions to increase safety and prevent further incidents like the one in East Palestine. During the listening session, first responders and firefighters thanked DOT officials for the emergency training grants available through PHMSA’s Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) Grant Program. In recent years PHMSA’s hazardous materials grant programs have helped train over 3,000 first responders across Ohio, including International Association of Firefighters (IAFF)-member firefighters who responded to this hazardous derailment.

President to Nominate Ann Carlson to Be NHTSA Administrator

On February 13, President Biden announced his intent to nominate Ann Carlson to be the next Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Since September 2022,  Ms. Carlson has served as the agency’s Acting Administrator and originally joined the Administration in 2021 as NHTSA’s Chief Counsel.

FHWA Posts Notice of Waiver of Buy America Requirements for EV Chargers

On Tuesday, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) posted a Federal Register Notice that it is establishing a temporary public interest waiver of Buy America requirements for steel, iron, manufactured products, and construction materials in electric vehicle (EV) chargers. This short-term, temporary waiver enables EV charger acquisition and installation to proceed immediately while also ensuring the application of Buy America requirements to EV chargers by the phasing out of the waiver over time. On its effective date — March 23, 2023 – the waiver will apply to all EV chargers manufactured by July 1, 2024, whose final assembly occurs in the United States, and whose installation has begun by October 1, 2024.

Beginning with EV chargers manufactured on July 1, 2024, FHWA will phase out coverage under this waiver for those previously covered EV chargers where the cost of components manufactured in the United States does not exceed 55 percent of the cost of all components. This second phase will therefore apply to all EV chargers that are manufactured on or after July 1, 2024, whose final assembly occurs in the United States, and for which the cost of components manufactured in the United States is at least 55 percent of the cost of all components. For all phases, EV charger housing components that are predominantly steel and iron are excluded from the waiver and must meet current FHWA Buy America requirements. As of the effective date of this waiver, FHWA is also removing EV chargers from its existing general applicability waiver for manufactured products. Comments may be submitted to FHWA’s website via the link to this waiver: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/construction/contracts/waivers.cfm by February 27, 2023.

FAA Completes Rule to Increase Safety at Airports

On February 16 , the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced the completion of a new rule that will help airports detect and mitigate safety problems before they result in accidents or incidents. The final rule requires certain airports to develop and implement a Safety Management System (SMS).  The use of SMS programs by commercial airlines and many manufacturers helped foster the safest era in commercial aviation history. Fundamental to the program is identifying risks and then taking steps to correct potential safety issues before they result in accidents or incidents. The final rule applies to more than 200 of America’s busiest commercial airports. The timeline to fully implement SMS ranges from four to five-and-a-half years depending on the airports’ classification and operations. The rule takes effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. 

DOT Funds Innovative Research and Vital Training for Next Generation of Transportation Leaders

On Tuesday Secretary Buttigieg announced up to $435 million in grant awards for 34 University Transportation Centers (UTCs) that will help the next generation of transportation professionals make our roads, bridges, rail, shipping, and airspace safer, more innovative, and more efficient. UTCs advance transportation expertise and technology in the varied disciplines that comprise the field of transportation through education, research, and technology transfer activities. The BIL included $90 million in funding per year for the competitively selected UTC Program grants.  Reflecting the popularity of the program, the Department received a total of 230 grant applications — the largest number submitted in any single year in the program’s 35-year history. Prairie View A&M University made history as the first Historically Black College and University (HBCU) to become a national UTC grantee. An additional four HBCUs are consortia members of UTCs selected for an award, and another five consortia members are Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)/Minority Serving Institutions.  Overall, a record number of HBCUs, MSIs, and Tribal Colleges and Universities are participating this year. This interactive map depicts all the UTCs.

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