LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Republican Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed a bill Thursday aimed at strengthening train safety.
Assembly Bill 456 would require sensors on tracks to warn train crews when equipment overheats. The bill also limits the length of trains in Nevada to 7,500 feet to reduce potential derailments.
In his veto message, Lombardo echoed what representatives from Union Pacific, the railroad operating in Nevada, had said in committee hearings: that the law would certainly be challenged at the federal level.
“Aside from being another policy overreach from the Legislature, it is also far from certain the constitutionality of AB [456] would be upheld in court,” Lombardo said, adding Supreme Court precedent dictates national interests over states’ interests when it comes to the economy and rail service.
About 1,200 miles of train tracks run through Nevada – but an 8 News Now Investigation earlier this year found the railroad company, the Federal Railroad Administration, nor any government agency could say what specific hazardous materials the trains, some traveling right through Las Vegas, are carrying.
Union Pacific trains, some multi-miles long, move commodities, including hazardous materials and chemicals, across Nevada. Workers laid the tracks before the Las Vegas valley expanded, meaning they run right near the Las Vegas Strip and downtown Las Vegas before heading north toward Utah and south toward California.
No public entity nor the railroad would say exactly what is on train cars. The American Association of Railroads, a trade group for freight carriers, notes on its website that there are “thousands of distinct products,” not all hazardous, on our nation’s tracks. The trade group fact sheet about what commodities run through Nevada was “redacted to preserve confidentiality.”
Over the past 10 years, 43 trains have derailed in Nevada, according to the FRA. Just one derailment involved what the agency calls a Hazmat release. The report for that derailment, which occurred at a slow speed in a rail yard, only said it involved an “alcohol of unknown amount.”
“By neglecting the compelling dangers of overly long trains and frequently blocked crossings, Governor Lombardo has opted to cater to the railroad industry’s demands over ensuring the safety of Nevadans,” Jason Doering, Nevada State Legislative Director for SMART-TD, which advocated for the bill’s passage, said in a statement. “Amid the railroad industry spending millions on lobbying efforts, aiming to retain self-regulation and avoid vital safety improvements such as wayside detectors, Governor Lombardo’s veto of AB456 is a shocking gamble with Nevadans’ lives. It dismisses the considerable public support for improved rail safety.”
The legislative session ends at 12 a.m. Tuesday.
Last month, Democratic Nevada Rep. Dina Titus cited the 8 News Now Investigators’ reporting while pressing the president of a railroad trade group about safety on trains going through Las Vegas.
Both Titus and Democratic Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto have expressed their concerns about any proposals to transport nuclear material on railroad tracks through Nevada, specifically to Yucca Mountain. The Biden Administration previously promised to abandon a plan to store federal waste there.