Category Archives: Crude Oil

California Energy Commission, California Regulation, Crude Oil, Martinez CA, Richmond

California Energy Commission official should have known…

Repost from the Sacramento Bee – Capitol Alert

California energy official says state wasn’t aware of crude by rail facilities

March 16, 2014

A California Energy Commission official Friday said the agency wasn’t aware that the state had become a destination for crude oil shipments by rail, even though Gov. Jerry Brown‘s budget proposal made note of it two months ago.

The Bee reported in January that the state was already receiving the shipments and expecting more. According to the energy commission’s own numbers, California received nearly 1.2 million barrels of crude oil by rail in December, up from fewer than 100,000 a year earlier.

The Bee identified at least two locations where crude oil was being unloaded from trains, including Richmond and Bakersfield, with several more terminals under development.

But Gordon Schremp, senior fuels specialist at the commission, told CBS San Francisco Friday that “we don’t have any of those facilities operating in California.”

When the TV station showed him video of rail cars of crude oil at the Kinder Morgan facility in Richmond, Schremp modified his statement.

“It’s certainly a recent change that you know, we haven’t been made aware of that,” he told the TV station.

State and local officials across the country have become concerned about the safety of crude shipments by train since a derailment killed 47 people in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, in July, and leveled the center of the town with explosive force.

Many communities, from Washington state to New York state, have voted to bar the expansion of such operations until their safety is improved. But it’s not clear that those measures have any legal authority, because the job of regulating rail shipments falls to the federal government.

Railroads and the Department of Transportation last month agreed to a series of voluntary safety improvements, but many state and local officials would like to see more swift, decisive actions from the federal government to protect their communities.

Here is the CBS San Francisco report:

PHOTO: In this July 6, 2013 file photo, emergency workers examine the aftermath of a train derailment and fire in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, Canada. Forty-seven people were killed. U.S. federal regulators are further tightening testing requirements for companies that transport oil by rail after a spate of explosions caused by crude train derailments in the U.S. and Canada. Associated Press/Ryan Remiorz)

Bay Area Refineries, California Regulation, Crude Oil, Rail industry, Tar sands crude

Correction – tar sands, not bakken spotted in Bay Area?

By Roger Straw, editor, The Benicia Independent

In my weekly BenIndy newsletter yesterday I highlighted KPIX’s most recent report, “Trains Carrying Fracked Oil Spotted In Bay Area.”

First, KPIX is to be thanked for its continued excellent coverage of the crude by rail crisis in the Bay Area.

But overnight, I heard from a trusted community organizer in Davis, Lynne Nittler, who is in touch with a staff person for the Department of Fish and Wildlife, Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR).  They believe that the Kinder Morgan trains are most likely carrying crude sourced from tar sands, not fracked Bakken crude.

The OSPR staffer was told that the trains are carrying tar sands crude.  This clearly fits with the last quarter of data posted by the California Energy Commission, which shows a sudden increase in tar sands coming into California.  The Commission had predicted 2 million barrels in crude-by-rail for 2013.  In reality, it jumped to 6 million barrels – because of the increases last quarter.  See http://energyalmanac.ca.gov/petroleum/statistics/2013_crude_by_rail.html

So I want to correct any possible misinformation I might have spread in my newsletter.  The fault for misinformation here?  Certainly not KPIX.  A Bay Area expert offered the following observation, “This is clear evidence that we need public disclosure: what are these rail cars carrying, how much, on what routes?”  I let KPIX reporters know about this.  The Kinder Morgan tar-sands trains would be a good follow-up story.  This is deadly serious – diluted tar sands crude is less volatile, but as Lynne Nittler wrote, dilbit spills “are worse – more polluting and harder to clean up, more corrosive, and much worse at the refinery for air pollution and producing much more petcoke.”

BACKGROUND:
For a detailed background on Valero’s proposal 2012-present, see https://beniciaindependent.com/?p=80 Also see http://www.ci.benicia.ca.us/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={C45EA667-8D39-4B30-87EB-9110A2F9CE13}

MORE:
BENICIANS FOR A SAFE AND HEALTHY COMMUNITY
SafeBenicia.org
Spokesperson Andrés Soto, (707) 742-3597
info@SafeBenicia.com

Crude Oil, Ethanol, Federal Regulation (U.S.), Rail Safety, Rail tanker cars

NTSB: Public Forum in D.C. April 22-13

Repost from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)

NTSB Press Release

National Transportation Safety Board Office of Public Affairs

NTSB to Examine the Safe Transportation of Crude Oil and Ethanol by Train

MARCH 6, 2014

WASHINGTON – The National Transportation Safety Board today announced it will hold a public forum on April 22-23 in Washington that will examine the safety issues associated with the transportation of crude oil and ethanol by rail.

The forum, Rail Safety: Transportation of Crude Oil and Ethanol, will explore DOT-111 tank car design, construction and crashworthiness; rail operations and risk management strategies; emergency response challenges and best practices; and federal oversight.

“While the soaring volumes of crude oil and ethanol traveling by rail has been good for business, there is a corresponding obligation to protect our communities and our environment,” said NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman. “This forum will explore both the risks and opportunities that exist to improve the safety of transporting these important commodities.”

A detailed agenda and list of participants will be released closer to the date of the event and will be made available on our website at www.ntsb.gov.

The forum will be held in the NTSB Board Room and Conference Center, located at 429 L’Enfant Plaza, S.W. Washington, D.C. It will be free and open to the public. No registration is necessary. For those who are unable to attend in person, the forum can be viewed via webcast at www.ntsb.gov.

Office of Public Affairs 490 L’Enfant Plaza, SW Washington, DC 20594 Eric M. Weiss (202) 314-6100 eric.weiss@ntsb.gov

Crude Oil, Rail Safety, Rail tanker cars, Spill prevention and response

Train sprays crude oil for nearly 70 miles

Repost from The Brainerd Dispatch

Train sprays crude oil for nearly 70 miles

 Posted: February 5, 2014

RED WING – A southbound Canadian Pacific train leaked a trail of about 12,000 gallons of crude oil Monday morning after passing through Red Wing, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

MPCA emergency responders worked with railroad personnel throughout the day Tuesday to gauge the extent of the spill and check for environmental damage, MPCA spokeswoman Cathy Rofshus said.

She described the leak as a “light spray on the ballast rocks” that stretches for nearly 70 miles of track.

A duty officer’s report from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety says the leak started in Red Wing and continued past Winona before it was reported around 9 a.m. Monday. Crews reportedly stopped the train and fixed a missing valve or cap responsible for the spill.

Investigators spent the day Tuesday looking for areas where the oil may have pooled, but so far none has been found, Rofshus said.