MN SF3352

Railroads must offer initial training to fire departments and emergency management organizations by June 30, 2016, and refresher training every three years on hazards, assessment techniques, and incident response strategies.

Railroads must respond to oil or hazardous substance discharges with a qualified employee within one hour, monitoring equipment within three hours, and containment boom capability within eight hours, with full worst-case discharge containment capability within 60 hours.

Railroads must conduct annual tabletop exercises and full-scale environmental response drills every three years, attended by railroad employee safety representatives.

Establishes three to nine state rail safety inspector positions under the Department of Transportation, with costs allocated to railroad companies based on route miles operated in Minnesota.

Creates new requirements for railroads to provide emergency managers and first responders with emergency response capability notifications, route risk assessments, hazardous materials response plans, bridge inspection reports, and access to a real-time tracking software program for oil and hazardous substance transportation.

Increases annual appropriations to the Pollution Control Agency from $104,000 to $250,000 for railroad discharge preparedness activities.