Bakken Crude, Crude By Rail, Fracking, Hazmat notification, State regulation, Tar sands crude

Gov. Brown Approves New Rules On Crude Oil Shipments

Repost from KPIX5 CBS San Francisco
[Editor: See also Bloomberg.  – RS]

Gov. Brown Approves New Rules On Crude Oil Shipments

September 26, 2014
A KPIX 5 crew captured this video of Bakken crude oil getting unloaded from a train at a rail yard in Richmond. (CBS)
A KPIX 5 crew captured this video of Bakken crude oil getting unloaded from a train at a rail yard in Richmond. (CBS)

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) — Earlier this year, KPIX 5 reported on crude oil being brought into the Bay Area by rail. Until now, companies haven’t been required to give cities a heads up, but that’s about to change.

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law new rules requiring oil shipments to be disclosed. This means that companies have to tell state and local agencies that potentially explosive crude oil is headed their way.

The rules would allow agencies to have their emergency responders ready, in case there is an accident.

KPIX 5 has reported on plans to bring crude by rail into the East Bay, mainly Pittsburg. And we’ve recently learned it has also been going on in Richmond.

Last year’s rail disaster in Canada has prompted the push for new regulations. A train carrying crude oil derailed and caused a massive explosion and fire, killing 47 and mostly flattening the town of Lac-Mégantic.

Brown also signed into law a requirement for oil companies to reveal more details about the fracturing process.