New Regulations Inspire Little Confidence, Disasters Expected to Continue

 

CSX trains burns after derailment in WVA.

New Oil Train Rules Get Mixed Reactions In Northwest

“We'll continue to see derailments and spills even with these new rules in place"

By Tony Schick    Jefferson Public Radio  5/01/15

Oil trains are getting stronger tank cars, better brakes, slower speed limits and possibly new routes. Many in the Northwest say that’s still not enough.

Federal transportation regulators in the U.S. and Canada released a sweeping set of final rules Friday with more stringent requirements for railroads hauling flammable liquids, including crude oil and ethanol. The rules come one day after Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and four of their Democratic colleagues introduced a wide-ranging bill intended to bolster oil train safety, including a fee on oil shipments made in old, puncture-prone tank cars.

“It’s a meaningful step but it doesn’t do enough,” Wyden said Friday of the federal rule. “It doesn’t move quickly enough to secure Oregon communities from the risk of flammable oil trains.”...

...Environmentalists, rail workers and safety experts called the rule a positive step, but each pointed out what they think are significant safety gaps.

Jared Margolis, a lawyer with the Center for Biological Diversity, said he thinks the speed limits are too high and the phase-out of old tank cars too dragged out.

The Center for Biological Diversity has previously sued to prevent oil trains in older tank cars from moving through parts of the Northwest, like the Columbia River Gorge.
 
“We'll continue to see derailments and spills even with these new rules in place,” Margolis said.....   more here

Fee Proposed on Rail Cars That Haul Oil, Other Flammables 

 

05/01/2015     Matthew Brown, AP

 

U.S. senators from six states on Thursday proposed that the government charge companies a special fee to ship oil, ethanol and other flammable liquids in older railroad tank cars that have been involved in fiery explosions.

The fee would start at $175 and increase to $1,400 per car by 2018. It would raise an estimated $600 million to train first responders, clean up spills and relocate rail tracks around populated areas.

The proposal would be paired with tax breaks for upgrades to newer tank cars, so they can better withstand derailments. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon told The Associated Press the intent is to offer "market-based" incentives for companies to improve safety.....    more here

10 Recent Oil Train Crashes in the US and Canada

 

Benicia Independent (from The Associated Press)   May 1, 2015     h/t Roger Straw

See also a listing on SafeBenicia.org, somewhat out of date but with more detail and photos.  

Sweeping regulations to boost the safety of trains transporting crude oil, ethanol and other flammable liquids were announced Friday by U.S. and Canadian officials. The long-awaited regulations are a response to a series of oil train accidents in both countries over the last few years that have resulted in spectacular fires that burned for days.

Here are some of those accidents:    here