New regulations planned to prevent oil train fires

Fracking boom increases shipments, prompting action

WASHINGTON — Responding to a series of fiery train crashes, the government proposed rules Wednesday that would phase out tens of thousands of older tank cars that carry increasing quantities of crude oil and other highly flammable liquids through America’s towns and cities.

But many details were put off as regulators struggle to balance safety against the benefits of a fracking boom that has

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sharply increased U.S. oil production. Among the issues: What type of tank cars will replace those phased out, how fast will they be allowed to travel and what braking systems will they need?

Accident investigators have complained for decades that older tank cars are too easily punctured or ruptured. Since 2008, there have been 10 significant derailments in the United States and Canada in which crude oil has spilled from ruptured tank cars, often igniting. The worst was a runaway oil train that exploded in the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic a year ago, killing 47 people.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx expects his department to com- plete final regulations by year’s end.

In a report released along with the rules, the Department of Transportation concluded that oil from the Bakken region of North Dakota and Montana, where fracking methods have created an oil boom, is more volatile than is typical for light, sweet crudes. The oil industry has challenged that conclusion.

Rail shipments of crude have risen from a few thousand carloads a decade ago to 434,000 carloads last year. The Bakken produces over 1 million barrels per day, and production is increasing.

The period for replacing or retrofitting older tank cars that transport the most volatile liquids is shorter than the Canadian government’s three-year phased plan. The proposal includes ethanol, transported in the same kind of cars.

The proposed regulations apply only to trains of 20 or more cars. Crude oil trains from the Bakken are typically 100 cars or more.

The department is weighing three tank car design options for replacements.

Regulators also are weighing whether to limit crude and ethanol trains to a maximum of 40 mph throughout the country, or just in “high-threat” urban areas or areas with populations greater than 100,000 people. A high-threat urban area is usually one or more cities surrounded by a 10-mile buffer zone.