http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/05/09/report-card-only-225-out-over-100-000-unsafe-tank-cars-retrofit-first-year
[links and graphics in on-line article]
Rail Safety Report Card: Only 225 Of Over 100,000 Unsafe Tank Cars Were
Retrofitted in First Year
By Justin Mikulka • Monday, May 9, 2016 - 15:12
A year ago, when Federal regulators announced new rules for “high
hazard” trains moving crude oil and ethanol, the oil industry protested
that the rules were too strict. The main point of contention made by the
American Petroleum Institute (API) was that the requirement to retrofit
the unsafe DOT-111 and DOT-1232 tank cars within ten years did not allow
enough time to get the job done.
Meanwhile, according to information recently provided to DeSmog by the
Association of American Railroads, only 225 of the tank cars have been
retrofitted in the past year. So, the API may have been onto something
because at that rate it will take roughly 500 years to retrofit the
entire fleet of DOT-111s and CPC-1232s based on government and industry
estimates of fleet size of approximately 110,000.
http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Oil%20Tank%20Car%20Fleet%20Size.png
As DeSmog reported earlier this year, the FAST Act transportation bill
that passed in 2015 required that all DOT-111s that have not been
retrofitted be retired from crude oil service by 2018. But the bill
included the option that “The Secretary may extend the deadlines…if the
Secretary determines that insufficient retrofitting shop capacity will
prevent the phase-out of tank cars.”
However, prior to the new rule being finalized, Greg Saxton — a
representative of leading tank car manufacturer Greenbrier — testified
in Congress that there was sufficient shop capacity to meet the timeline
noting that,“This is an aggressive timeline, we believe it is achievable.”
Saxton also made the assertion that the lack of new regulations was the
issue that was delaying the safety retrofits.
“The only thing holding the industry back is the government’s inaction
on proposed new tank car design standards and a deadline for having an
upgraded rail tank car fleet.”
Now a year after the new rule was announced, with a mere 225 cars
undergoing the safety upgrades, it would appear that was not the only
thing holding back the industry.
DeSmog reached out to the Railway Supply Institute, leading oil-by-rail
carrier BNSF, and Greenbrier to inquire about the lack of retrofits to
date and asked if shop capacity was an issue, but did not receive any
response. The Association of American Railroads and the Federal Railroad
Administration were unable to provide information on shop capacity.
Unlike Safety, Public Relations On Schedule
Despite not actually making any significant safety improvements to the
unsafe DOT-111 tank cars — tank cars called an “unacceptable public
risk” by a member of the National Transportation Safety Board — the
public relations effort to push the idea that the issue has been
addressed appears to be successful.
In an article published in Chicago Magazine in April 2016, the risks of
oil-by-rail were covered in detail. However, that article included the
following statement, “Those first-generation tank cars, called DOT-111s,
have almost all been subjected to new protections, including having
their shells reinforced with steel a sixteenth of an inch thicker than
used in earlier models.”
But 225 tanker cars clearly does not qualify as “almost all” of the
DOT-111 oil tank car fleet.
An article published shortly after the FAST Act was signed ran with the
headline, “New Highway Bill Includes Tough Rules for Oil Trains.” Again,
this would seem like overstating the reality of what the bill included.
As DeSmog has noted before, the oil and rail industries are very good at
public relations when it concerns this topic. However, as when BNSF said
they were buying 5,000 new tank cars that would exceed all safety
standards, it often never results in anything more than a press release
and some media coverage. BNSF never purchased the 5,000 tank cars.
Unsafe Tank Cars Can Carry More Oil and Bring Higher Profits
In January, Christopher A. Hart, the head of the National Transportation
Safety Board, presented his remarks on the NTSB’s safety “Most Wanted
List” and once again mentioned the risk of the DOT-111s in moving crude oil.
“We have been lucky thus far that derailments involving flammable
liquids in America have not yet occurred in a populated area,” Hart
said. “But an American version of Lac-Megantic could happen at any time.”
Why would the industry want to take this risk? Could it be because
unsafe cars are more profitable?
The more oil a tank car can haul, the more profitable that oil train
will be. The way rail works is that the weight of the car plus the
weight of the cargo can only combine to be a certain amount. If your
tank car weighs less, you can put in more oil because it effectively has
more capacity.
Exxon made this case to regulators prior to the rulemaking. Check out
this slide the company presented that points out that adding safety
measures “reduces capacity” — which reduces profit.
http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Exxon%20Oil%20by%20Rail%20Car%20Lobbying_0.png
Tank cars full of volatile Bakken crude oil — deemed an “unacceptable
public risk” by an NTSB member — continue to move through communities
across North America. And the tank car owners are not moving to make the
required safety retrofits.
While oil-by-rail traffic is declining with the current low oil prices,
that is unlikely to continue. And with the lack of pipeline
infrastructure needed to move dilbit from ever-increasing tar sands oil
production, industry opinion holds that rail has a good chance of making
a comeback. And they are going to need rail cars to move that oil.
The question remains: Will the Secretary of the Department of
Transportation use the loophole in the FAST Act to grant the industry an
extension on using DOT-111s past 2018?
If history is any indication, with rail safety improvements such as
positive train control being repeatedly delayed for decades — including
a recent three-year extension by Congress — it would appear that is a
likely outcome if the DOT-111s are needed by the oil industry.
This makes the prediction y the head of the NTSB that “an American
version of Lac-Megantic could happen at any time” all the more likely to
eventually occur.
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