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Nov 18, 2009 6:19 PM

Congressional markup of the proposed tank trailer wetlines legislation should proceed on Thursday, November 19. Markup comes just days after what has been termed a very productive field trip to a Baltimore MD cargo tank repair shop and a public hearing convened by Rep Corrine Brown (D-FL), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials.

Markup of House bill HR4016 (which would ban wetlines on all tank trailers that handle hazardous materials) originally was set for November 5 but was delayed two weeks to give members of the subcommittee more time to study the issue. Further study included the November 16 field trip to Baltimore Cargo Tank and a public hearing at the University of Maryland-Baltimore campus.

Rep Brown led the fact-finding mission and was joined by other members of the subcommittee, including Rep Bill Shuster (R-PA), ranking minority member on the subcommittee; Rep Elijah Cummins (D-MD); Rep Timothy J Walz (D-WI); and Rep Grace Napolitano (D-CA). The Congressional delegation also included Rep Donna Edwards (D-MD), a member of the full House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee; Rep Tom Petri (R-WI) and Rep Robert Latta (R-OH).

“We appreciate the opportunity to speak with these Congressmen and present our case,” said Dan Furth, National Tank Truck Carriers vice-president. “We believe the shop visit and public hearing were productive. We got good questions from the members of the Congressional delegation, and members of the tank truck industry provided strong testimony to answer those questions.

“We are optimistic that the subcommittee understands the tank truck industry perspective and concerns. We are guardedly hopeful that the Congressmen will give the tank truck industry a reasonable amount of time to develop safe and practical approaches to resolve the wetlines issues. The key here is to avoid potentially dangerous requirements, specifically the ill-conceived retrofit requirement.”