mister drake also worked as the director of governmental affairs at the federal motor carrier safety administration. before joining the us department of transportation, john drake was a capitol hill staffer for nearly a decade working on the senate committee on commerce science and transportation and the house committee on transportation and infrastructure. he holds a bachelors degree in philosophy from the university of california at santa cruz . thank you so much for being here. we look forward to your testimony. >> thank you ma'am and thank you. mister chairman paul, ranking member baldwin, members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to testify before you today on the pipeline and hazardous material administration efforts to ensure the safe and reliable transportation of hazardous materials by rail and prepare first responders form emergency incidents. every day more than 6 million tons of energy products and other hazardous materials move across our nation. many of these materials like lithium batteries battery, gas and cleaning products are essential components to our