From AP News — “Seven train cars carrying crude oil derailed and five caught fire in Custer, Washington, on Dec. 22, 2020, sending a large plume of black smoke into the sky close to the Canadian border. There were no injuries in the derailment about 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Seattle.

KUOW reports that an official with the union representing the driver has told authorities the derailment was not an accident.”

Looking for something fun to do this weekend? Give Congressman Greg Gianforte a call at (202) 225-3211 and tell him to support the “Crude by Rail Volatility Standard Act” H.R.5553. Introduced by John Garamendi (D-Calif.) Crude-by-rail safety bill introduced in U.S. House of Representatives “To prohibit transportation by rail of crude oil with a Reid vapor pressure of more than 9.5 pounds per square inch, and for other purposes.”

The Bonner County Daily Bee reported, “The derailment sent at least one car of the 113-car train into the water with the crew temporarily trapped. However by 10 p.m., reports had two of the train crew sitting on the top of the truck and all crew members out of the train. Reports also indicate the train sinking on the front end but the train’s seven haz-mat cars — six of which were loaded ­ — were reported to not be in the river and were instead on the riverbank.”

Oregon Live covered the oil train threat to the Middle Fork Flathead River with quotes from local interests and comparisons to the disaster (230,000 gallons of crude oil) in Iowa and the firey spill in Mosier, Oregon in 2016. “Beneath the Middle Fork lie several feet of pebbles and baseball-sized “cobbles.” These underground areas are acting as filters, cleaning and cleansing the water as it flows underground,” explained Tom Bansak, assistant director of the University of Montana Flathead Lake Biological Station.

In 2015, the Attorney General for the State of New York petitioned the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to establish a nationwide vapor pressure standard of less than 9 psi for the transportation of crude oil by rail. Every oil train derailment with Bakken oil that involved explosion and/or fire came from loads with Reid Vapor Pressure of 9.0, or greater. The deadly Lac Megantic crash that killed 47 people came from crude oil with vapor pressures just over 9.

The Oregon Legislature has taken the initiative to pass a bill designed to establish and maintain an Oil Spill Preparedness Fund and better prepare the state for the next disastrous oil spill. The bill establishes High Hazard Oil Routes across the state and railroads hauling oil or other toxic materials will be charged a per-car fee. Railroads will also be required to submit spill prevention plans and emergency response plans to the state.

From the Sightline Institute — “To protect communities from the risks of exploding oil trains federal agencies in 2015 assembled a package of changes to railroad operations. One of the key rules they agreed on was so that so-called “high-hazard flammable unit trains” (HHFUTs)—trains hauling 70 or more tanker cars loaded with flammable liquids—should be required to have electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) braking systems if they intend to travel faster than 30 mph. ECP brakes are more effective than conventional braking systems because they provide an electronic signal simultaneously to every car on the train.

The Associated Press found “The Trump administration miscalculated potential damages from train derailments when it canceled an Obama-era rule requiring the installation of more advanced brakes by railroads hauling explosive fuels, The Associated Press has found. A government analysis used by the administration to justify the cancellation omitted up to $117 million in estimated future damages that could be avoided by using electronic brakes. The error could stoke renewed criticism from supporters of the rule who say the analysis was biased.”

The Huffington Post reported, “Canada’s oil industry is facing record-low prices for its exports, a glaring lack of infrastructure to bring its product to market, and an uncertain long-term outlook. But none of that is stopping the oil patch from increasing production. And as one pipeline project after another fails to launch, the industry is relying more heavily than ever to ship its oil by rail.”

From the Desmog blog: “Canadian oil-by-rail now is operating at record levels, which are predicted to double by 2019. Favorable economics have led to a recent rise in oil-by-rail movements in the U.S. as well, with more Bakken oil moving by train to East Coast refineries. Meanwhile, in September the Trump administration finalized its rollback of a regulation requiring an updated braking system for oil trains, known as modern electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes, in a highly questionable regulatory process detailed on DeSmog last year.”

The Washington Post reported “For years, Canadians have heard a common refrain: If a new pipeline doesn’t materialize to get their oil to market, the oil will just travel a different way — by rail.

It’s a trade-off that can inspire fear in a country where an oil-by-rail disaster killed 47 people just five years ago. Environmentalists have sometimes described the rail option as a threat or “boogeyman” looming over the pipeline debate.

But now the prediction appears to be coming true, as the volume of oil traveling by rail out of Canada — to the United States — has surged in the past few months as the country’s latest pipeline project foundered.”

The DOT found that the Obama-era rule was not “economically justified”. Evidently, public and environmental safety is no longer a concern in regulation that might reduce corporate profits.

The Hill reported, “The Department of Transportation’s Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) said it undertook a congressionally mandated analysis of the provision in a 2015 regulation under which oil trains would have had to use electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes.

The Department [of Transportation] determined that the expected benefits, including safety benefits, of implementing ECP brake system requirements do not exceed the associated costs of equipping tank cars with ECP brake systems, and therefore are not economically justified,” PHMSA said.”

From New Jersey News, “Phasing out these least crash-resistant tank cars as soon as possible is another concrete step our government is taking to enhance the safety of communities along our railway lines,” Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau said in a statement. The U.S. Department of Transportation, however, is stuck with the April 1, 2020 deadline Congress required in the 2015 Fixing America’s Surface Transportation, or FAST Act.

New article on TankTerminals.com, a tank storage industry website notes the increasing trend in crude oil shipments by rail and predicts the trend will continue with more than 12 million gallons expected to be carried by rail and nearly all of that oil headed for U.S. ports.

The Associated Press reported, “Sen. Charles Schumer wants federal regulators to quickly finalize a rule establishing volatility standards for crude oil shipped by rail.

Schumer says federal data show shipments of Bakken crude across New York state to Northeast refineries is again on the rise. The crude oil comes from the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that Northeast refineries used 3.1 million barrels in March, the highest level since early 2017.”

Video: Native American perspective on the importance of our treasured waterways.

A 15-minute video from DeSmog explaining the science behind why Bakken oil tank trains explode.