Sen. Franken calls on FRA to make Bakken crude less volatile

 

A train jumped its tracks early Sunday, dumping tons of coal from more than two dozen cars near the northern Colorado town of Hudson.

Sen. Franken calls on FRA to make Bakken crude less volatile

Progressive Railroading  03/23/15

U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) last week called on the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to take action toward making Bakken crude oil less volatile before it's allowed to be shipped by rail.

A member of the Senate Energy Committee, Franken wrote to the FRA asking the agency to address the safety of Bakken crude oil after hearing from concerned constituents about the safety of trains traveling from North Dakota through Minnesota, "as the trains carrying this crude oil have shown a propensity to explode in the case of a derailment."

Franken said he was encouraged by recent FRA official statements calling for an "all-of-the-above" approach to addressing crude-by-rail safety, including the need to make the oil itself safer.

"I urge you to take whatever actions necessary to address the safety of the product itself, as your comments called for, and require that this crude oil be made less volatile before it is shipped through my state and across the country," the letter states.

The senator also said he supported proposed routing requirements for high-hazard flammable trains (HHFTs).

"Whenever at all feasible, these HHFTs should not be allowed to travel through population centers," Franken wrote. "We also need to do more to address rail integrity issues to prevent derailments in the first place, and to give the communities the resources that they need to respond to an accident with this dangerous fuel."

 

CN Rail derailment numbers soared before recent crashes

By Allison Martell       Reuters, TORONTO    March 23, 2015

Canadian National Railway's safety record deteriorated sharply in 2014, reversing years of improvements, as accidents in Canada blamed on poor track conditions hit their highest level in more than five years, a Reuters analysis has found.....

....  Trains operated by CN in Canada derailed along main lines 57 times in 2014, up 73 percent from 33 in 2013 and well above a 2009-2013 average of 39 accidents per year. On CN's full 21,000 mile (33,800 km) network, which also includes the Midwestern and southern United States, freight carloads rose 8 percent last year.....    more here

Trains derailments in Texas, Colorado over weekend

wtop.com  3/22/15

VALLEY MILLS, Texas (AP) — While a crew worked Sunday to clean up the scene in Central Texas where the derailment of about a dozen train cars resulted in an industrial solvent leaking from one tanker, a train jumped its tracks in northern Colorado, dumping coal from more than two dozen cars.

Spokesmen with BNSF Railway said Sunday it wasn’t yet known what caused either derailment. No injuries were reported.

In Texas, the cars derailed Saturday evening near Valley Mills, a town about 25 miles northwest of Waco. Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Trooper D.L. Wilson said that about four homes were evacuated as a precaution. Residents returned home around 9 p.m.

Wilson said they initially thought methanol was leaking, but later discovered it was dimethylformamide, which if inhaled can cause nausea and vomiting.....   more here

Other Links:

Workshop Explores Solutions to Transporting Uinta Basin Waxy Crude- Utah

FutureBlast Zones? How Crude-By-Rail Puts U.S. Communities At Risk-

Despite this alarming safety record, the BAAQMD has allowed Kinder Morgan, a major energy firm, to store up to 72,000 barrels per day at a Richmond facility leased from the BNSF; from there, it’s loaded tank trucks bound for the Tesoro Golden Eagle Refinery in Martinez, CA., (which has been shutdown recently due to a nationwide strike by the United Steel Workers). Before issuing the necessary permit for bringing Bakken crude into Richmond, the BAAQMD gave no prior notice, held no public hearings, and conducted no review of any possible environmental or health impacts.

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