Canada Should Bring in Stronger Rail Cars for Crude Before 2025 - official
Canada ought to require stronger tank cars for transporting flammable liquids sooner than the current deadline in 2025, Transportation Safety Board Chair Kathy Fox said on Thursday, noting that crude-by-rail shipments are expected to rise in the country."We understand that it can't happen all at once. But we'd like to see it sooner…
BNSF: Nearly Half of Iowa Crude Spill Contained
Workers have contained nearly half of the crude oil spilled near Rock River in northwest Iowa over the weekend following a freight train derailment on Friday, BNSF Railway Co said. About 100,000 gallons had been hemmed off using booms out of the estimated 230,000 gallons spilled, BNSF said in a statement on Saturday. The spill has raised concerns about drinking water downstream.
FirstEnergy Settles Coal Transport Dispute
U.S. power company FirstEnergy Corp agreed to pay $109 million to settle a legal dispute with two railroads concerning a long-term coal transportation contract, the Ohio based company said in a federal filing on Wednesday. FirstEnergy said its FirstEnergy Generation unit would pay CSX Corp's CSX Transportation…
Big Dakota Pipeline to Upend Oil Delivery in US
It may seem odd that the opening of one pipeline crossing through four U.S. Midwest states could upend the movement of oil throughout the country, but the Dakota Access line may do just that. At the moment, crude oil moving out of North Dakota's prolific Bakken shale to "refinery row" in the U.S. Gulf must travel…
Train Lobby Pushes to Weaken Safety Rule
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is set to be a chief beneficiary of a bid by Senate Republicans to weaken new regulations to improve train safety in the $2.8 billion crude-by-rail industry, a key cog in the development of the vast North American shale oil fields. A series of oil train accidents, including the July 2013 explosion of a train carrying crude in Lac-Megantic…
BNSF Railway Faces Fines Over Spills
Washington state regulators have recommended BNSF Railway be fined $700,000 for not properly disclosing that its trains had spilled crude oil and other hazardous materials on 14 occasions over four months, officials said on Friday. BNSF rail cars leaked hazardous material in 16 separate incidents between November…
Leaky Valves on US Oil Railcars to be Replaced
The U.S. Federal Railroad Commission on Friday said about 6,000 tank railcars that carry crude oil and other hazardous materials have valves that can leak and must be replaced within 60 days. The valves, manufactured by Berkshire Hathaway Inc-owned McKenzie Valve & Machining LLC, are inconsistent with a design approved by the American Association of Railroads, the FRA said.
Fire Crews Still Battling Illinois Oil Train Blaze
Firefighters today were still working to extinguish several blazes that erupted when a BNSF Railway train loaded with crude oil derailed two days ago in a rural area south of Galena, Illinois, a local official said. The incident marked the latest in a series of derailments in North America involving trains hauling crude oil, heightening focus on rail safety.
Oil Train Regulation Passes in California
California lawmakers on Friday passed legislation requiring railroad companies to tell emergency officials when crude oil trains will chug through the state. The bill would require railroads to notify the state's Office of Emergency Services when trains carrying crude oil from Canada and North Dakota are headed to refineries in the most populous U.S. state.
Kemp: Next Energy Revolution on Roads & Rails
From modest beginnings in the Barnett shale beneath the city of Fort Worth, unnoticed by most energy analysts, horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing spread across North America and transformed all aspects of the energy landscape in under 10 years. Now the most important question for energy analysts is what technology will revolutionize the system next.
Oil Trains Face Test in New US Safety Rules
North Dakota's Bakken oil patch has thrived thanks in large part to the once-niche business of hauling fuel on U.S. rail tracks. New safety rules may now test the oil train model. Within weeks, the Obama Administration is due to unveil a suite of reforms that will rewrite standards conceived long before the rise of the shale oil renaissance…
Shell Oil-by-rail Plan Faces Extra Scrutiny
When Tesoro Corp pioneered moving crude by rail to its Washington state refinery in 2012, it encountered little community opposition. The same goes for early adopters BP Plc and Phillips 66 . But Royal Dutch Shell may have a tougher go at it. Shell is seeking permits, from the same regional air quality control agency that approved the others…
Oil Traffic may Delay US Fertilizer Shipments
Increasing use of railroads to ship crude oil could disrupt fertilizer cargo this spring as Midwest farmers prepare for planting, U.S. agriculture leaders warn, even as one railroad said on Monday it will take steps to ensure timely deliveries. The planting season is nearly at hand in states such as the Dakotas and Minnesota…
