OST 77-14
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Contact: Patricia Klinger
Tel: 202-366-4831

U.S. Department of Transportation Announces $20.2 Million in Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness Grants to Help Communities Stay Safe

WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today announced grants totaling $20.2 million to states, territories and Native American tribes for planning and training to improve the nation's response to transportation incidents involving hazardous materials, such as crude oil rail spills. Since 1993, millions of emergency responders around the country have received training assistance through the Department's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's (PHMSA) Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) grants program.

Grant recipients that have projected to use a portion of their grants toward first responder training and planning for crude oil rail spills are Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington, Wyoming and the Paiute-Shoshone Tribe in Nevada.

"Safety is our highest priority and these grants will help first responders across the country get the training they need to stay safe and protect other people,"said Secretary Foxx. "Well-trained first responders play a critical role in any hazardous materials incident, including those involving crude oil. These grants are another tool in the Department's comprehensive approach to improving the transportation of crude oil and other hazardous material across the country."

The HMEP program is designed to allow grantees the ability to implement planning and training programs that address each community's unique needs. For this grant cycle, HMEP applicants were encouraged to allocate funding towards activities such as:

• developing or revising emergency plans to account for bulk rail shipments of crude oil;
• growing commodity flow studies to determine the frequency and quantity of crude oil and other hazardous materials shipments transported through their local communities; and
• training emergency responders to respond appropriately to incidents involving bulk shipments of crude oil.

Grants from PHMSA are funded by annual user registration fees paid by shippers and carriers of certain hazardous materials in commerce.

"PHMSA is committed to keeping local communities safe,"said PHMSA Administrator Cynthia Quarterman. "Our HMEP grants program continues to ensure America's first responders are well trained to respond to emergency situations and is a key step to fulfilling this commitment."

During grant period 2012-13, HMEP grants funded more than 58,000 first responders in initial or refresher hazardous materials response training, over 1,300 new or revised hazardous materials emergency response plans, and over 950 hazardous materials exercises.

All 50 states, five U.S. territories, and seven Native American Indian tribes received HMEP grant funding this year. The District of Columbia did not apply for grant funding this year.

Awardee Funding Distribution

Table 1. FY 2014 HMEP State Grants

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Table 2. FY 2014 Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) Territory Grants

Table 3. FY 2014 Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) Native American Indian Tribal Grants

TOTAL FY 2014 HMEP GRANTS: $20,230,400

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration develops and enforces regulations for the safe, reliable, and environmentally sound operation of the nation's 2.6 million mile pipeline transportation system and the nearly 1 million daily shipments of hazardous materials by land, sea, and air. Please visit http://phmsa.dot.gov or https://twitter.com/PHMSA_DOT for more information.