HazmatMore crude-oil trains means more accidents, spills

In 2013 U.S. railroads carried more than 400,000 car loads of crude oil, a sharp increase from the 9,500 they carried in 2008. Crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale region has fueled most of the surge, and this surge has increased the potential for rail accidents.

Each train carrying more than a million gallons of Bakken crude could cause damage similar to what occurred in July 2013, when a runaway train derailed in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, killing forty-seven people. Another derailment near Lynchburg, Virginia in April 2014, spilled about 30,000 gallons of Bakken crude oil into the James River.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration notes that Bakken crude may be more flammable than traditional crude.

Between twenty and thirty-five trainloads of Bakken crude oil passes through Erie County, Pennsylvania weekly, according to the state’s Emergency Management Agency (PEMA). For residents who live near the train tracks, first responders, and emergency management officials, a train derailment could disable local economies, contaminate local water, and endanger hundreds of lives.

“There have never been any problems here, but there are always concerns about a train derailing, especially where I’m at and especially with these trains,” said Jeff Figurski, who has lived in Erie County for twenty-three years. “If one of them went off the track and exploded, I wouldn’t have any chance. My whole house would be gone.”

Erie County Emergency Management Director Dale Robinson is also worried about a potential oil spill into the local water system. “A million gallons of oil and water don’t mix,” Robinson said. “It doesn’t make sense to me putting one million-plus gallons of this stuff so close to Lake Erie every day. We don’t have the equipment to do oil skimming operations.”

The state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and PEMA are working with rail companies to train local emergency responders on how to respond to oil train accidents. PEMA is working with railroads to post oil train shipment schedules and safety information on its Web site. DEP has provided county emergency officials with a procedure to access information on public water supply intakes should an oil train spill. The agency also regularly revises its emergency action plans to deal with oil train accidents, focusing especially on county-level responses to protecting drinking water, sensitive areas, and vulnerable populations. Yet, most of the planning has been focused on reacting to an oil spill. There has been no joint effort to assess and address Pennsylvania’s oil train risks, said emergency officials. The Erie Times-News reports that in New York, where CSX transports Bakken crude to East Coast refineries, Governor Andrew Cuomo in January 2014 ordered a comprehensive review of the state’s crude oil accident prevention and response capabilities. Roughly half of the resulting recommendations for improvement have been implemented. A targeted inspection by Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and New York Department of Transportation inspectors in December 2014 found 100 defects in 704 oil tankers and ninety-five miles of track used by oil trains.

“We haven’t seen anything like that here,” Robinson said of New York’s initiative.

The FRA and Public Utility Commission (PUC) inspect track and rail equipment in Pennsylvania, and while there have been no targeted oil train inspections, officials are aware of lines that transport oil and can focus on those areas, PUC spokeswoman Denise McCracken said. “We are making every effort to focus on these crude oil unit trains,” she said.

Railroads are also playing their part to safely transport oil through the East Coast. In Erie County, CSX has provided the only training to help local firefighters and emergency management officials respond to an oil train accident. The industry has also agreed to reduce the speed of oil trains to 40 mph in urban areas and 50 mph elsewhere. “It seems to me that the majority of oil trains are slowing down,” Robinson said, “and that’s good risk management.”