In the wake of the train derailment in Casselton a year ago today, the question on everyone’s mind was ‘what if?’ What if families had been hurt? What if homes had been damaged? Immediately, I started working with local fire chiefs and officials to get to the bottom of what happened. And I have been pressing our federal agencies for improved rail safety standards to help prevent future train derailments, and pushing on the railroads to make needed investments. Additionally, our emergency responders are often our first line of defense – and they usually do it without pay. It’s on all of us to make sure they have the training and resources they need to protect our families and communities. That’s why I fought to secure federal funding for state-of-the-art training for our responders – which more than 60 North Dakota first responders have participated in this year -- and it’s why I wrote my RESPONSE Act, which would see to it that emergency teams continue to get the best possible tools to keep us safe. We have come a long way in the past year, but must keep pushing to get our safety standards up to pace, and to make sure our emergency response teams get the training they need. Because we can’t let North Dakota families live in fear of ‘what if?’ They need to know we’re working from all sides to keep them and their communities strong and safe – and that’s exactly what I’ll continue doing every single day.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 16:53:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015