An Inland Empire lawmaker is urging the Trump administration not to close an Ontario office overseeing the transport of hazardous cargo, including poisonous chemicals like the kind released into the air after a 2023 train derailment in Ohio.
In a Thursday, March 27, letter, Rep. Norma Torres, D-Ontario, asked U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy to keep the transportation department’s Western Regional Hazardous Materials Office open.
“In the wake of the East Palestine (Ohio) train derailment, I am shocked that there are any efforts underway to undermine the safety of Americans from dangerous materials traveling through their communities,” Torres wrote, referring to the 2023 derailment that emitted a toxic cloud of chemicals and forced nearby residents to flee their homes.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s media office did not respond Friday, March 28, to a request for comment.
As of Thursday, the office had not closed “but it is expected to soon,” Torres spokesperson Marysol Ibarra said via email.
The office, which is in Torres’ district, supervises the transportation of hazardous materials in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming and U.S. island territories in the Pacific Ocean, according to Torres’ letter.
Torres’ district includes parts of the Inland Empire, home to a massive logistics industry supplied by freight trains.
In 2022, a leak of a potentially explosive chemical from a train tanker car in Perris forced the evacuation of 170 homes and shut down the 215 Freeway before a hazardous materials team cleaned up the scene.
More than 1 million shipments of hazardous cargo, from corrosive gases and explosive materials to nuclear waste, occur every day in the United States, Torres wrote.
“It is disturbing to me that the Trump Administration would attempt to pull back on the nation-wide reach of the agency responsible for the safe transportation of these materials,” she wrote.
“Our nation is still learning the lessons of the East Palestine train derailment, and Vice President (J.D.) Vance recently stated that ‘we continue to need to do better on rail safety in this country.’ This lease termination flies in the face of that goal.”
Torres asked Duffy for more information about the closure, including what will happen to office staff and who made the decision to shut the office down.
Torres’ letter comes as President Donald Trump, with billionaire Elon Musk’s help, seeks to slash federal government spending, firing or laying off thousands of employees and dismantling public agencies in the process.
In February, POLITICO reported that a round of layoffs hit the Federal Aviation Administration, the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and an agency responsible for maritime safety.
