Calif. AG Blasts CBR Project; Railroads Sue CA Over New Safety Rules

California Attorney General Kamala Harris blasts Benicia crude-by-rail project

Times on Line   By Tony Burchyns  10/08/14


California Attorney General Kamala Harris has blasted Benicia's environmental review of Valero's crude-by-rail project, claiming it underestimates safety risks and relies on an overly broad definition of trade secrets in failing to disclose the types of volatile crudes to be shipped.

In a letter to the city last week, Harris said Benicia's safety analysis was inadequate because it only considers "a fraction" of the rail miles that would be traveled by oil trains headed to the city's Valero refinery. Harris also faults the city for relying on Valero's "unenforceable" promise to use newer, safer tank cars that are not currently required by federal regulations.

The letter follows similar critical comments from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife's Office of Spill Prevention and Response and the Public Utilities Commission.....

.... Harris, whose duties include enforcing the California Environmental Quality Act, contends the city's project analysis fails to analyze air pollution impacts from the foreseeable change in crude oils that would be processed at the refinery. It also faulted the city for limiting the scope of its rail safety analysis to 69 miles of track between Roseville and Benicia, and failing to consider cumulative impacts from other crude-by-rail projects proposed in California.

The letter also criticized the city's finding that the risk of train spills of more than 100 gallons between Roseville and Benicia would be once in 111 years. Critics have said the analysis is flawed because it relies on rail safety data that predates the nation's crude-by-rail boom....
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Railroads sue California over new crude oil safety requirements 

George Warren, KXTV  News10.net  10/08/14 

SACRAMENTO - The major railroads operating in California are suing the state to block implementation of new regulations imposed on crude oil transportation by rail.

Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway Company and the Association of American Railroads claim the new state law expanding the scope of state Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) is preempted by federal law.

Senate Bill 861, which took effect July 1, imposes a 6.5 cent fee on every barrel of oil entering California to fund the new oil spill protections. Previously, the fee was only charged on oil arriving by sea.....

...The railroads' lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, claims the federal government already prescribes elaborate safety standards governing rail car design and operation, capacity and type of crude being transported.

The lawsuit claims SB 861, which will bar railroads from transporting oil in California without a state-approved spill prevention and response plan, squarely overlaps existing federal rules....
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Canada considers special fund for Oil by Rail insurance; Railroad delays first responders on riverside oil spill

Workers stand before mangled tanker cars on July 13, at the crash site of a train derailment and fire in Lac-Megantic, Quebec

Canada may spread oil-by-rail insurance burden, mulls special fund

Sep 23, 2014   By Randall Palmer  (Reuters) 

- The Canadian government is looking at extending the insurance burden for crude-by-rail disasters beyond just railways and is weighing the idea of a special fund similar to one once set up for maritime oil spills, a government official said.....

The country's Conservative government pledged last year to make railways carry more insurance to deal with such disasters, but is coming around to the idea that it is unrealistic for the industry to bear the entire cost, said the official....

"The taxpayer should not have to fund the cost of damages after an incident," said Raitt's press secretary, Jana Regimbal.

Railways and other groups have argued shippers and brokers should also have adequate insurance, and even then some say it may be necessary to set up a separate fund.....

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Derailed: Railroad delays first responders on riverside oil spill 

kdvr.com September 22, 2014, by Chris Halsne        -video at site- 

DENVER — FOX31 Denver has confirmed a May 9 crude oil train car derailment near LaSalle, Colorado polluted area groundwater with toxic levels of benzene.

Environmental Protection Agency records from July show benzene measurements as high as 144 parts per billion near the crash site. Five parts per billion is considered the safe limit.

Federal accident records also show six Union Pacific tankers ripped apart from the train and flipped into a ditch due to a “track misalignment caused by a soft roadbed.” One of the tankers cracked and spilled approximately7,000 gallons of Niobrara crude, according to the EPA....

... According to federal authorities, the Union Pacific oil tanker which rolled, cracked and then spewed thousands of gallons of crude onto the ground in May’s accident is considered a DOT 111 design....

....According to a federal report, the accident happened at around 8 a.m. on May 9.

FOX31 Denver pulled call logs surrounding the accident and found Union Pacific first notified the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management at 9:10 am.

Radio traffic shows Weld County fire crews and emergency managers were still scrambling another hour later, trying to figure out exactly where the accident had occurred and whether oil was leaking into the South Platte River.

Rudisill told FOX31 Denver, “A quicker phone call, quicker communication, faster communication to local jurisdiction would have been prudent in my opinion. Now we’ve had two incidents out there. What can we do to make sure the proper actions are taking place so we don’t have another one?”...
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