The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) plans to amend Chapter 173-186 WAC, Oil Spill Contingency Plan – Railroad. This chapter requires railroads carrying oil as cargo to plan for oil spills, including how to make notifications and to have the appropriate equipment and trained personnel to respond to spills.

The purpose of this rulemaking is to streamline plan requirements for smaller railroads that move refined oil products but not crude oil. In addition, the rule update will comply with the passage of SB 6269 in 2018 (RCW 90.56.210) which directed Ecology to update rules to account for non-floating oils and required that Spill Management Teams be approved by Ecology in order to be cited in contingency plans. The rule is expected to be adopted on November 6, 2019, with an effective date of January 18, 2019.

Public hearings

Ecology will hold three public hearings on this rule proposal in Spokane, Seattle, and via webinar:

How can I provide comments?

Comments must be submitted by July 22, 2019 at 11:59 pm. Formal comments on this rulemaking will be accepted in the following ways:

• At the public hearings or during webinar:
  • Comments can be given verbally by those who attend in person, or during the webinar. Comments will not be accepted through the chat box by persons viewing the webinar.
  • Written comments can be submitted by those who attend in person.
• Any time during the comment period:
  • Submit by mail to Nhi Irwin, Department of Ecology Spills Program, P.O. Box 47600, Olympia, WA 98504-7600 or 300 Desmond Drive, Lacey, WA 98504.
  • Submit through Ecology’s online comment tool.

For more information about the rulemaking, documents available for review, and public hearings, visit Ecology’s website. If you would prefer to review hard copies of any of these documents please contact Tammy Kendall at 360-407-7129 or tammy.kendall@ecy.wa.gov. The following documents are available for review:

• Proposed rule language
• Preliminary regulatory analyses
• SEPA documents

For questions, contact Nhi Irwin at 360-407-7039 or nhi.irwin@ecy.wa.gov.