Category Archives: High Hazard Flammable Trains (HHFTs)

Commuter train, High Hazard Flammable Trains (HHFTs), Positive Train Control

Feds award $1.1M in Minnesota for “Positive Train Control” upgrade

Repost from the Minneapolis Star Tribune

Feds award $1.1M to Twin Cities & Western railroad for safety upgrade

New safety system would automatically stop trains and prevent collisions.
By Jim Spencer Star Tribune AUGUST 12, 2016 — 6:46PM

Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken and Reps. Betty McCollum and Keith Ellison announced the grant Friday.

The money will put in place and test a positive train control system, a technology that stops trains automatically to avoid crashes.

The controls are supposed to go on mainline routes that carry hazardous materials or commuters. They use sensors to remotely monitor speed and movement in order to head off train-to-train collisions and derailments.

By federal law, American railroads have until December 2018 to install the safety system on roughly 70,000 miles of track.

Klobuchar, Franken, McCollum and Ellison have been active in rail safety promotion because of the potential risks of derailments or crashes involving trains carrying crude oil from North Dakota across Minnesota.

Some of those shipments go through the heart of the Twin Cities. Oil train traffic has increased markedly in recent years along with the North Dakota oil boom.

“With increased freight train traffic on our rail lines, ensuring the safety of communities along rail routes remains a top priority,” Klobuchar said in a statement.

Franken said in a statement that he has talked to “many community leaders who share my concern for the safety of railcars that travel through our Minnesota communities, and I’m glad that the Transportation Department is listening.”

California Regulation, Crude By Rail, Hazmat rail fees, High Hazard Flammable Trains (HHFTs), State regulation

BNSF, Union Pacific lawsuit: claims California’s new rail hazmat fee illegal

Repost from Hazmat Magazine
[Note: The complaint is available at http://src.bna.com/hm1. – RS]

California’s new Rail Hazmat Fee Illegal Claims Railroads

By J Nicholson, August 11, 2016

As reported in Bloomberg BNA, California’s new fee on rail deliveries of crude oil and certain other hazardous materials is illegal, the nation’s two largest railroad companies said in a lawsuit ( BNSF Railway Co. v. California State Board of Equalization, N.D. Cal., No. 16-cv-04311-JCS, 7/29/16 ).

Filed in federal court in San Francisco, the complaint challenges a newly approved regulation requiring railroad companies to collect from their customers $45 for each rail car carrying 25 specified hazardous materials into the state. To be paid to the state’s Board of Equalization, the fee is earmarked to help the state prepare for hazardous material incidents.

The federal ICC Termination Act of 1995, the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act and the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 preempt the fee implemented under S.B. 84, a budget bill enacted in 2015, the complaint said.

Plaintiffs want an order blocking the state from collecting the fee.

RAILWAY-TRACK

“This hazmat charge defies federal law and economic logic,” the complaint filed July 29 by BNSF Railway Co. and Union Pacific Railroad Co. said. “If exclusive federal jurisdiction over the economic relationship between railroads and their customers means anything, it means that a State cannot establish the charges to be collected for rail transportation, order a railroad to collect them from its customers, and depress rail revenues and customer demand in the process.”

Chemicals Covered by Fee

California’s Office of Emergency Services adopted the fee regulation in June.  Expected to take effect later this year, the fee applies to rail cars containing acetonitrile, certain alcohols, anhydrous ammonia, ammonium hydroxide and calcium hypochlorite.  It also applies to chlorine, certain corrosive liquids, diesel fuel, environmentally hazardous substances, ethanol, gasoline, hydrogen peroxide, liquefied petroleum gas, liquefied gas, methanol, methyl ethyl ketone, nitric acid, petroleum crude oil, phenol, phosphoric acid, potassium hydroxide, propylene, sodium hydroxide, sulfuric acid, toluene and vinyl acetate.

California’s fee only applies to rail deliveries, no other type of delivery of hazardous materials.  The Interstate Commerce Clause and the federal hazardous materials law forbid states from discriminating against interstate commerce, the complaint said.

Benjamin J. Horwich of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP is representing BNSF Railway.  Union Pacific’s counsel are from Sidley Austin LLP and include Carol Lynn Thompson and in-house attorney Melissa B. Hagan.

A copy of the complaint is available at http://src.bna.com/hm1.

Coal trains, Crude By Rail, High Hazard Flammable Trains (HHFTs), Local Regulation, Oil trains

City proposes fining railroad for all oil and coal trains passing through

Repost from The Columbian
[Editor: Check out the Resolution to be considered by the Spokane City Council on Monday, July 25 (from the Council agenda).  The resolution begins: “A Resolution requesting that the Spokane County Auditor to hold a special election on November 8, 2016 in conjunction with the scheduled general election to submit to the electors of the City of Spokane a  proposition regarding the enactment of a new section 10.08.068 of the Spokane Municipal Code, relating to a prohibition on the transit of oil and coal trains through specific areas of the City of Spokane.” A series of powerful WHEREASES follow.  – RS]

Spokane may fine railroads shipping oil or coal through town

July 21, 2016, 6:01 AM

SPOKANE – The Spokane City Council is thinking of fining railroad companies that ship crude oil or coal through downtown Spokane.

The companies would be fined hundreds of dollars for each train car under a law the city council will consider placing on the November ballot.

The Spokesman-Review says the proposed law would make such shipments a civil infraction punishable by a fine of up to $261 for each train car.

The City Council will vote Monday on whether to add a law that would authorize fines for oil and coal train operators to the November ballot.

Crude By Rail, Derailment, Emergency Readiness & Response, Explosion, Federal Regulation (U.S.), Fire, High Hazard Flammable Trains (HHFTs)

Feds Propose New Safety Oil Spill Response Plans and Information Sharing for High-Hazard Flammable Trains

By Roger Straw, July 20, 2016

Following are links to 4 sources with information about the PHMSA’s new proposed rules.  First from the PHMSA itself, then ThinkProgress, Bakken Magazine, and the California Association of Counties.

PHMSA Proposes New Safety Oil Spill Response Plans and Information Sharing for High-Hazard Flammable Trains

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
By Artealia Gilliard, 7/13/16

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), today announced proposed regulations for Oil Spill Response Plans and Information Sharing for High-Hazard Flammable Trains (HHFTs) to improve oil spill response readiness and mitigate effects of rail incidents involving petroleum oil. The proposed rule would update and clarify the comprehensive oil spill response plan requirements for certain trains, and would require railroads to share information with state and tribal emergency response commissions to improve community preparedness for potential accidents. The rule would also incorporate a test method for initial boiling point for flammable liquids into the hazardous materials regulations. (continued…)

New Federal Rules Proposed for High-Hazard Flammable Trains

Calif. State Ass’n of Counties
By Karen Keene, Cara Martinson, 7/21/16

Two federal agencies are working on new regulations related to so-called “oil trains” that have become more common recently. The goal is to improve oil spill response readiness and mitigate effects of rail incidents involving petroleum oil.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced proposed regulations for Oil Spill Response Plans and Information Sharing for High-Hazard Flammable Trains (HHFTs).

The proposed rule would update and clarify the comprehensive oil spill response plan requirements for certain trains, and would require railroads to share information with state and tribal emergency response commissions to improve community preparedness for potential accidents.

According to the PHMSA announcement… (continued…)

New Oil Train Rules Would Force Railroad Companies To Plan For The Worst

ClimateProgress
By Natasha Geiling, 7/14/16 3:23 PM

A little over a month after a Union Pacific train carrying Bakken crude oil derailed outside of the tiny Oregon known of Mosier, the Department of Transportation has announced new rules aimed at ensuring that communities near oil train routes have adequate information and help in the event of an oil derailment.

The new rules would, among other things, require railroad companies that ship oil by rail to come up with response plans in case of a worst-case scenario oil spill — something that most railroad companies are not currently required to do.  (continued…)

PHMSA proposes new rules for high-hazard, flammable trains

The Bakken Magazine
By Patrick C. Miller, 7/20/16

In response to train derailments involving flammable oil, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) last week announced proposed regulations for oil spill response plans and the sharing of information with state and tribal governments.

PHMSA said the new regulations—aimed at high-hazard flammable trains (HHFT)—are intended to improve oil spill response readiness and mitigate effects of rail incidents involving petroleum oil. The effort is being coordinated with the Federal Railroad Administration.

“The substantial surge in our country’s production of crude oil is creating a serious need for improved response and communication between railroads and the communities through which they travel,” said Therese Dominguez, PHMSA administrator. “This rule would help to ensure that railroads provide vital information to first responders to help them prepare for and respond to a derailment involving crude.”  (continued…)