Crude-by-rail safety reports released in New York, Washington

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Wed Dec 3, 2014, 04:38 PM - Edit history (3)

Disclosure: I own rail stocks.

Crude-by-rail safety reports released in New York, Washington

Rail News: Safety 12/3/2014

The Washington Department of Ecology on Monday delivered a report to state legislators outlining key recommendations to improve public safety in response to the rapid increase of crude-by-rail shipments through the state. ... The Washington Legislature requested the study due to recent changes in how crude is transported through rail corridors and waterways. The "Marine and Rail Oil Transportation Study" includes 40 recommendations on ways to better protect public health and safety — such as the prevention of an oil train derailment or spill — as well as how to better respect tribal treaty rights.

The Washington Department of Ecology coordinated with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission and Washington Military Department’s Emergency Management Division (EMD) to research and compile the report. Other contributing agencies include the Federal Railroad Administration and Washington State Department of Transportation. A final report is expected to be delivered to the Legislature March 1, 2015.
....

Meanwhile, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday received a status report outlining the progress made by state agencies to improve crude-by-rail safety. The agencies have implemented 66 actions to strengthen standards, regulations and procedures.

Among the actions:
• The New York State Department of Transportation added five rail safety inspectors to improve existing rail safety enforcement capabilities; initiated seven crude-oil inspection blitzes; and teamed up with the Federal Railroad Administration to inspect 6,664 rail cars — including 4,656 DOT-111 cars — and 2,564 miles of track, resulting in the detection of 740 rail and equipment defects.

Here are some links:

Washington state: 2014 Marine and Rail Oil Transportation Study

New York state: State's Actions on Transport of Crude Oil

New York state: Transporting Crude Oil in New York State: A Review of Incident Response and Prevention Capacity Status Update December 2014

Related action, mentioned on Thom Hartmann last night:

Groups Bring New Legal Action for Federal Ban of Dangerous Oil Tank Rail Cars

The cars in the illustration are owned by Archer Daniels Midland. They are probably carrying ethanol, not crude oil.

The Federal Railroad Administration has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). It's lengthy, but the discussion is good:

Securement of Unattended Equipment

All the documents in this docket

[Historic NY]

1. Still scary, the trains roll night and day through my town south to Weehawken...

miles and miles of trains some more that a mile in length. CSX has been working the tracks, its not comforting to see the track crack inspection trollies running up and down.

Global on of the big oil compamies was pushing for tar sands oil transfer station to barges in town, they had withdrawn permitting in the face of opposition.

[jschurchin]

2. Crude should be the least of peoples worries.

If people had any idea of some of the products shipped by rail they would freak.

Disclosure: I work for a Class 1.

[golfguru]

3. Buffet is making a killing

in transporting oil with his ownership in railroads.