Crude By Rail, Federal Regulation (U.S.), Tank car design, Tank car retirement, Tank car retrofit, US Department of Transportation

U.S. Senators on new safety rules: Hurry up! or maybe… Slow Down!

[Editor: The news on Wednesday, January 28 carried two stories about U.S. Senators, one urging speed and the other urging delay in the Obama administration’s effort to – finally after over 20 years of delays – pass new rules governing rail transport of crude oil and other hazmat materials.  Washington Senator Maria Cantwell: the Department of Transportation should “move its behind.”  South Dakota Senator John Thune: the government is “moving too quickly.”    Read both stories below.  – RS]

Get moving on oil train safety rules, Cantwell tells Obama administration

Seattle PI, By Joel Connelly, January 28, 2015
In this image made available by the City of Lynchburg, several CSX tanker cars carrying crude oil in flames after derailing in downtown Lynchburg, Va., Wednesday, April 30, 2014. (AP Photo/City of Lynchburg, LuAnn Hunt)
Several CSX tanker cars carrying crude oil in flames after derailing in downtown Lynchburg, Va., Wednesday, April 30, 2014. (AP Photo/City of Lynchburg, LuAnn Hunt)

With 19 oil trains passing through Washington towns and cities each week, the U.S. Department of Transportation should move its behind, finalize and enforce safety rules for tanker cars, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said Wednesday.

“We should go faster: The administration should get those recommendations implemented,” Cantwell said at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing.

“My constituents are now seeing trains through every major city in our state: They’re literally hitting Spokane through the Tri-Cities, through Vancouver, up through Tacoma, Seattle, Everett and then up to the refineries.”  (…continued)

Thune urges White House to delay tank car safety rules

Argus Leader, By Christopher Doering, USA TODAY, January 28, 2015
poet ethanol Chancellor
Jeff Hansen tightens the bolts on top of an ethanol rail car after filling it Thursday at the POET ethanol plant in Chancellor, Jan. 27, 2011. (Elisha Page/Argus Leader)

WASHINGTON – An Obama administration effort to boost the safety of tank cars used to transport crude and other materials by train could disrupt the country’s already congested rail network if an unrealistic proposal is allowed to go forward, the head of the powerful Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee said Wednesday.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., who chairs the Senate panel that oversees the country’s railroads, said the government was moving too quickly with a proposal for phasing out or retrofitting older freight-rail tank cars known as DOT-111 that carry crude oil and ethanol. The Transportation Department is to finalize the regulations on May 12, before giving the rail industry two years to comply.  (…continued)