Rail security437,000 crude oil barrels carried daily by rail from North Dakota to East Coast refineries

In the wake of recent oil train derailments in West Virginia, and Galena, Illinois, the federal government has answered calls to release oil train figures. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, taking numbers from industry and government, report that more than one million barrels of crude oil move by train across the United States every day.

“The new crude-by-rail data provides a clearer picture on a mode of oil transportation that has experienced rapid growth in recent years and is of great interest to policymakers, the public and industry,” agency administrator Adam Sieminski said in a statement.

Environmentalists and public safety advocates concerned about the increasing number of crude oil trains which move across the country, now have figures to support their cause. According to the Chicago Tribune, federal crude-by-rail information reveals that 437,000 barrels of Bakken crude oil were shipped daily in January from North Dakota to East Coast refineries. Those shipments passed through the Chicago area, making the region the country’s hub for oil train shipments.

“There has been some uncertainty as to how much crude was crossing the country,” said Tom Weisner, the mayor of Aurora, Illinois and co-chair of a municipal coalition concerned about the safety of oil trains and the tank cars that carry the oil and other hazardous materials. “Having an accurate accounting will certainly help the discussion on increasing safety along the rails.”

The new data shows that 70 percent of Bakken oil production is transported by rail. Activists want railroads and the oil and gas industry to address safety concerns as production increases. The railroad industry says it has already taken steps to improve train safety. Route selections have been updated to reduce oil train exposure in residential areas, train speeds have been reduced to as low as 35 mph in cities with more than 100,000 people, track inspections occur more often, and railroads are training more first responders on how to treat an oil train derailment.

Still, critics call the crude-by-rail shipments “bomb trains,” because of concerns about the ability of the tank cars to withstand derailments. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and other senators from six states have sent a letter to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve proposals by the U.S. Department of Transportation calling for railroads to design better tank cars, enhance communication with local first responders, and phase out of the older, weaker DOT-111 tank cars. Durbin and the other senators claim efforts to enact the stricter guidelines have been slowed by the OMB’s bureaucracy.