Repost from Sightline Daily [Editor: These images would be great for posters (see below) – and the author speaks for me when he writes, “Government regulators have been slow to act, their responses painfully milquetoast. As a result, much of what I do involves research into the often-complex details of federal rulemaking procedures, rail car design standards, insurance policies, and the like—all the issues that Sightline is shining a light on….Yet on some level it’s not about any of that. It’s about a reckless and unaccountable oil industry that—in the most literal and obvious way—profits by putting our lives at risk. Every time I hear one of their accountability-shirking lines, I can’t help recalling images from those tragedies and near-tragedies.” – RS]
Oil Trains: The Industry Speaks for Itself – a record of denial and deceit, in photos
By Eric de Place and Keiko Budech, December 30, 2014
A year and a half after an oil train inferno ended 47 lives in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, the crude-by-rail industry rolls on, virtually unimpeded. It’s hard not to feel horrified when, one after another, we register the place names of oil train explosions—Aliceville, Alabama; Casselton, View PostNorth Dakota; Lynchburg, Virginia—as grim warnings of what could happen in so many other North American communities.
Government regulators have been slow to act, their responses painfully milquetoast. As a result, much of what I do involves research into the often-complex details of federal rulemaking procedures, rail car design standards, insurance policies, and the like—all the issues that Sightline is shining a light on.
Yet on some level it’s not about any of that. It’s about a reckless and unaccountable oil industry that—in the most literal and obvious way—profits by putting our lives at risk. Every time I hear one of their accountability-shirking lines, I can’t help recalling images from those tragedies and near-tragedies. The juxtaposition is startling that we decided to undertake a small photo project to capture it. We hope that you’ll find the following useful in your own work, and if so, that you’ll share the images with your own networks.
It’s a practically a given that we’ll hear more empty reassurances and lies from oil and rail executives in the new year, and as growing numbers of oil trains crisscross the continent, there’s every likelihood we’ll have another catastrophe to catalog. To grasp the magnitude of the oil industry’s cynicism, it’s best to hear them in their own words.
Lynchburg, VA, Derailment by LuAnn HuntAliceville, AL, Derailment, by John WathenLac-Mégantic Derailment by TSB CanadaLac-Mégantic Derailment by TSB CanadaLac-Mégantic Derailment by David CharronLac-Mégantic Derailment by TSB CanadaLynchburg, VA, Derailment by Michael Cover
Repost from Politico [Editor: this story ranges across all modes of transportation. I have highlighted in red all references to crude by rail. Note the significant roles to be played by “Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), who as chairman of the House Transportation Committee is tasked with writing each of the transportation bills and and shepherding them through the lower chamber…. and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), incoming ranking member of the committee.” – RS]
Loaded transportation agenda could easily be derailed
By Adam Snider, 1/2/15
There’s a laundry list of things transportation lawmakers want to get done in 2015, but they could easily be stymied by old foes, primarily a lack of money and partisan wrangling ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Lawmakers from both chambers face a to-do list that includes major legislation affecting just about every mode: aviation, passenger and freight rail, highways, bridges, transit and water resources.
Not all the action will be on Capitol Hill — there will be plenty to do a mile down New Jersey Avenue at the Transportation Department.
Regulators are hoping to put out rules early in the year on hot-button issues such as commercial drones and the safety of rail cars that carry volatile crude oil. Also pending is a rule that would ban cellphone conversations on planes and a slew of policy changes mandated by the last surface transportation bill two years ago.
“Every one of the subcommittees has the potential to do a pretty significant piece of legislation,” said Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), who as chairman of the House Transportation Committee is tasked with writing each of the transportation bills and and shepherding them through the lower chamber.
“We’re going to be busy,” Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), incoming ranking member of the committee, said after ticking off a long list of major bills the panel faces.
Shuster and other top lawmakers aren’t worried about a time crunch, though, because, they say, they’ve put in a lot of work on all the major bills. But the price tag of the highway and transit measure — around $100 billion just for six years of status quo funding — could easily steer it off course. And it could also get bogged down in another round of debates over how the money is divvied up among the states as well as transit’s slice of gas tax dollars.
There’s a strong and diverse coalition of groups — including business, labor and motorists — that have pushed for a gas tax increase as a way to increase federal spending on roads, bridges and transit systems. But that idea is largely a nonstarter on Capitol Hill; instead, support is building for using portions of revenues raised from corporate tax reform as a way to pay for increased infrastructure spending.
That path, however, has its own set of roadblocks. While it enjoys bipartisan support, including from polar opposites such as President Barack Obama and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), getting it done on the Hill is no sure thing. Some lawmakers could push for a broader tax overhaul package, an ambitious goal that could further complicate issues as members bicker over the nation’s overall tax structure. Even infrastructure boosters complain that it would be onetime revenue, and not a long-term fix.
No matter what happens, though, lawmakers will have to address the Highway Trust Fund early in 2015 — the fund that pays for road, bridge and transit work will go insolvent by May. Even a simple one-year extension, which must be enacted by May 30, would cost around $15 billion because the trust fund takes in far less in gas tax revenues than it is authorized to spend each year.
Another major reauthorization, of the Federal Aviation Administration, doesn’t face the same money problem — the Airport and Airway Trust Fund that pays for over 80 percent of the bill isn’t in the same financial peril. It is increasingly under strain, however, and discussions have begun about whether and how to switch to some new system of financing, including possible privatization.
But the FAA bill brings its own set of policy disputes. West Coast lawmakers will undoubtedly again push to increase the number of long-distance flights into and out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the airport closest to the Capitol used by the vast majority of lawmakers. Republicans will scrutinize the multibillion-dollar cost of NextGen, a new air traffic control system that is taking years to implement. The airport and airline lobbies will scrap over whether to raise the current cap on fees passengers pay to use certain airports. And members of both parties will prod the FAA to chart a clear path forward on drones, which to date have been addressed through a series of one-off rulings.
Lawmakers also want to address Amtrak, which saw its congressional authorization expire in 2013. The House Transportation Committee unanimously approved a bipartisan measure in 2014, but things could get more complicated when the full House takes it up. Some hard-line lawmakers want to end Amtrak’s $1.4 billion-per-year federal subsidy, while some Democrats would like to boost the railroad’s funding to help it address a backlog of deteriorating infrastructure.
The Amtrak bill could also ignite a regional battle — the House measure ensures that money made by the profitable Northeast Corridor, the area between D.C. and Boston, gets plowed back into that region’s operations. For the rest of the country, where nearly all Amtrak routes lose money, keeping service levels intact would mean states — facing their own budget shortfalls — would need to offer more money.
Hill politicians also face work on another water resources bill in 2016, though the overwhelming bipartisan support for the 2014 version makes that less of a concern. There’s also a rail safety bill on the horizon that could offer a chance to deal with the rising number of trains carrying crude oil, several of which have had headline-grabbing accidents and spills.
The DOT will also be grappling with how to stem the tide of oil train accidents. Officials hope to put out a rule in early 2015 that would set a new standard for the tank cars that carry crude and other volatile materials. The so-called cromnibus, which was recently enacted, moved the deadline for that rule up by about two months, to Jan. 15. However, most regard that as a statement from Congress more than a hard and fast deadline considering the timing.
That’s not the only regulation expected in early 2015 — regulators also aim to issue a broad rule on drones use and licensing to address the rising number of remote-controlled aircraft that can pose a major safety hazard if they get near large passenger planes. That rule was supposed to come out in 2014, but the complicated nature of the issue led the FAA’s assistant chief counsel to recently say the goal of putting it out by then was “slipping away.”
2015 could also see regulatory action to ban cellphone conversations on planes. The FCC kicked off the issue by ruling that there was no reason to continue its technical ban on in-flight calls, which set off a firestorm of worry and headlines about loud, obnoxious yakkers on flights. That led the DOT to begin its own proceeding, evaluating whether calls should remain banned under DOT’s consumer protection authority.
A string of high-profile disputes over reclining airline seats only added to the worry that phone-based brawls would be breaking out every week. And with the support of a number of lawmakers on the Hill, DOT shouldn’t run into much resistance when it formalizes the ban on in-flight cell conversations.
DOT is also facing a long list of rules implementing various parts of MAP-21, the highway and transit bill enacted in 2012, including setting performance measures to gauge how effective certain projects are at meeting each state’s transportation goals — a topic bicycle and pedestrian advocates have used to push for better safety measures.
Rail safety is back in the spotlight after a new warning from federal regulators.
The National Transportation Safety Board is urging railroads to take immediate action following its investigation of a derailment in Kansas. No one was hurt in the derailment, but it raised new questions about whether America’s rail network — carrying cargo and passengers — is as safe as it could be, CBS News’ Mark Albert reports.
The collision in September between two Union Pacific freight trains in Galva, Kansas, may have come down, in part, to a light bulb.
In a news release Friday, the NTSB said a green LED light was so bright it out-shined the old-fashioned, incandescent red stoplight nearby. The engineer accelerated, plowing into an oncoming train.
The NTSB now wants all railroads to eliminate any lighting hazards nationwide. It’s the latest in a string of safety issues in the past 18 months on America’s 140,000 miles of rails.
“What we know is the regulators are behind the curve,” said former NTSB chair Deborah Hersman, who sounded the alarm about crude oil shipments in April. “We’re losing cars. We’re losing millions of gallons of petroleum, and we aren’t prepared.”
Eight days later, train cars carrying crude oil derailed and caught fire along the James River in Virginia.
In December 2013, a derailment in North Dakota caused a huge fireball. And in July 2013, 47 people died after a derailment in Quebec, Canada. The train was carrying oil from North Dakota’s booming Bakken oil region.
McClatchy correspondent Curtis Tate acknowledges that the government and the railroads are making strides to make rail travel safer.
“Absolutely, they are,” he said. “The problem is it was too late for 47 people in Quebec.”
Tate published an investigation this week that found gaps in rail oversight, including:
The government lets railroads do their own bridge inspections.
There is no federal database on those bridge conditions, like there is with roads.
New rules that make railroads tell states when large oil shipments pass through only apply to higher-risk Bakken crude — not other types of oil.
“I’d like to think that they’re doing the best they can,” Tate said. “But the question is, will that be enough?”
In a statement to CBS News, the Association of American Railroads said the industry spends half a billion dollars per week on safety.
The Department of Transportation is expected to issue new federal rules by spring that may include stronger tank cars, tighter speed restrictions and tougher braking requirements.
Repost from McClatchy News [Editor: Once again Curtis Tate has produced an incredible wide-ranging and deep analysis of current issues and developments around crude by rail in the US. This article can serve as a must-read primer on crude by rail. Note that the presentation below is only a rough copy – much better viewing on McClatchy’s website. – RS]
By Curtis Tate, December 31, 2014
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Every day, strings of black tank cars filled with crude oil roll slowly across a long wooden railroad bridge over the Black Warrior River.
Curtis Tate / McClatchyDecaying track and bridge conditions on the Alabama southern railroad could pose a risk to Tuscaloosa, Ala., population 95,000. Above, video of trains crossing the bridge.
The 116-year-old span is a landmark in this city of 95,000 people, home to the University of Alabama. Residents have proposed and gotten married next to the bridge. Children play under it. During Alabama football season, die-hard Crimson Tide fans set up camp in its shadow.
But with some timber pilings so badly rotted that you can stick your hand right through them, and a “MacGyver”-esque combination of plywood, concrete and plastic pipe employed to patch up others, the bridge demonstrates the limited ability of government and industry to manage the hidden risks of a sudden shift in energy production.
And it shows why communities nationwide are in danger.
“It may not happen today or tomorrow, but one day a town or a city is going to get wiped out,” said Larry Mann, one of the foremost authorities on rail safety, who as a legislative aide on Capitol Hill in 1970 was the principal author of the Federal Railroad Safety Act, which authorized the government to regulate the safety of railroads.
Almost overnight in 2010, trains began crisscrossing the country carrying an energy bounty that included millions of gallons of crude oil and ethanol. The nation’s fleet of tens of thousands of tank cars, coupled with a 140,000-mile network of rail lines, had emerged as a viable way to move these economically essential commodities. But few thought to step back and take a hard look at the industry’s readiness for the job.
It may not happen today or tomorrow, but one day a town or a city is going to get wiped out.
Larry Mann, principal author of the Federal Railroad Safety Act
In a series of stories, McClatchy has detailed how government and industry are playing catch-up to long-overdue safety improvements, from redesigning the tank cars that carry the oil to rebuilding the track and bridges over which the trains run.
Those efforts in the past year and a half may have spared life and property in many communities. But they came too late for Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, a Canadian lakeside resort town just across the border from Maine. A train derailment there on July 6, 2013, unleashed a torrent of burning crude oil into the town’s center. Forty-seven people were killed.
“Sometimes it takes a disaster to get elected officials and agencies to address problems that were out there,” said Rep. Michael Michaud, D-Maine, a member of the House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees railroads, pipelines and hazardous materials, who’s leaving Congress after six terms.
Other subsequent but nonfatal derailments in Aliceville, Ala., Casselton, N.D., and Lynchburg, Va., followed a familiar pattern: massive fires and spills, large-scale evacuations and local officials furious that they hadn’t been informed beforehand of such shipments.
The U.S. Department of Transportation will issue a set of new rules in January regarding the transportation of flammable liquids by rail.
“Safety is our top priority,” said Kevin Thompson, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration,“both in the rule-making and through other immediate actions we have taken over the last year and a half.”
Nevertheless, McClatchy has identified other gaps in the oversight of crude by rail:
The Federal Railroad Administration entrusts bridge inspections to the railroads and doesn’t keep data on their condition, unlike its sister agency, the Federal Highway Administration, which does so for road bridges.
Most states don’t employ dedicated railroad bridge inspectors. Only California has begun developing a bridge inspection program.
The U.S. Department of Transportation concluded that crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken shale region posed an elevated risk in rail transport, so regulators required railroads to notify state officials of large shipments of Bakken crude. However, the requirement excluded other kinds of oil increasingly transported by rail, including those from Canada, Texas, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.
While railroads and refiners have taken steps to reserve the newest, sturdiest tank cars available for Bakken trains, they, too, have ruptured in derailments, and Bakken and other kinds of oil are likely to be moving around the country in a mix of older and newer cars for several more years.
We anticipate that crude by rail is going to stay over the long term
Kevin Birn, director of IHS Energy
Staying power
American railroads moved only 9,500 cars of crude oil in 2008 but more than 400,000 in 2013, according to industry figures. In the first seven months of 2014, trains carried 759,000 barrels a day – that’s more than 200,000 cars altogether – or 8 percent of the country’s oil production, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.
The energy boom, centered on North Dakota’s Bakken region, was made possible by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a horizontal drilling method that unlocks oil and gas trapped in rock formations. It was also made possible by the nation’s expansive rail system.
Crude by rail has become a profitable business for some of the world’s richest men. Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor, bought BNSF Railway in 2009. It’s since become the nation’s leading hauler of crude oil in trains. Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder and philanthropist, is the largest shareholder in Canadian National, the only rail company that has a direct route from oil-rich western Canada to the refinery-rich Gulf Coast.
Amid a worldwide slide in oil prices in recent weeks, crude by rail shows few signs of slowing down. The price per barrel of oil has dropped nearly 50 percent since last January. Still, the six largest North American railroads reported hauling a record 38,775 carloads of petroleum the second week of December.
“We anticipate that crude by rail is going to stay over the long term,” said Kevin Birn, director at IHS Energy, an energy information and analysis firm, and a co-author of a recent analysis of the trend.
Regulatory agencies and the rail industry may not have anticipated the sudden increase in crude oil moving by rail. However, government and industry had long known that most of the tank cars pressed into crude oil service had poor safety records. And after 180 years in business, U.S. railroads knew that track defects were a leading cause of derailments.
To be sure, railroads are taking corrective steps, including increased track inspections and reduced train speeds. They’ve endorsed stronger tank cars and funded beefed-up training for first responders.
Ed Greenberg, a spokesman for the Association of American Railroads, the industry’s principal trade group, said railroads began a “top-to-bottom review” of their operations after the Quebec accident.
“Every time there is an incident, the industry learns from what occurred and takes steps to address it through ongoing investments into rail infrastructure, as well as cutting-edge research and development,” he said. “The industry is committed to continuous improvement in actively moving forward at making rail transportation even safer.”
But the industry continues to resist other changes, including calls for more transparency. The dominant Eastern railroads, Norfolk Southern and CSX, sued Maryland to stop the state from releasing information to McClatchy about crude oil trains.
The industry also seeks affirmation from the courts that only the federal government has the power to regulate railroads. The dominant Western carriers, BNSF and Union Pacific, joined by the Association of American Railroads, sued California over a state law that requires them to develop comprehensive oil spill-response plans.
Curtis Tate / McClatchyDecaying track and bridge conditions on the Alabama southern railroad could pose a risk to Tuscaloosa, Ala., population 95,000. Above, video of trains crossing the bridge.
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