The Department of Transportation is taking steps to address concerns about the safety of transporting oil by rail. The concern is fueled by several severe accidents in 2012 that caused deaths and damage as rail cars carrying oil, especially Bakken oil that seems to be especially volatile, exploded or burned. Recent information about the large number of oil cars that move through highly populated areas has raised additional concerns.
In mid-2013 the industry adopted voluntary actions to improve oil train safety, reducing train speeds to 40 mph in major cities, increasing track inspections and improving emergency response planning. Unsafe tank car designs were not addressed. Many groups considered the voluntary efforts inadequate.
This week, on July 23, the Obama Administration announced new rules on shipping flammable liquids including oil and ethanol. The proposed rules include mandates for phasing out older, less-sturdy rail tank cars, tightened speed limits and measures to address concerns that crude oil produced in North Dakota’s Bakken region is unusually volatile or flammable–proposed rules will require testing for oil and other volatile liquids.
Railroads are concerned that the reduced speeds could cause gridlock and shippers are concerned that they may be unable to ship as much oil as they wish.
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