Official: new rules for trains carrying oil not enough
The director of the Maine Emergency Management Agency said new federal rules for trains shipping hazardous materials, such as crude oil, don’t go far enough.
The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting said the new federal order requires train carriers to notify state emergency officials of the routes they will use to deliver crude oil from the Bakken shale region of North Dakota, and how long they will travel through each county.
But the requirement only applies to trains carrying at least a million gallons of crude oil, even when trains with smaller loads have caused explosions, including a recent incident in Virginia.
“It doesn’t help us with a mixed train, if it’s a train with other hazardous materials on it,” MEMA Director Bruce Fitzgerald told the investigative reporting center, “or if there’s a train that doesn’t meet that million-gallon threshold of 35 cars.”
Fitzgerald said the order also doesn’t address who will provide needed equipment and manpower when it comes to responding to train accidents involving hazardous materials. He noted that the order recommends railroads invest in first responder training and resources, but there is no requirement to see that through.
Fitzgerald said without required coordination with railroads, state officials will be left guessing at what materials a train might be carrying. And if trains are planning to travel through Maine, but not make any stops, he said officials might never find out.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection said it has confirmed that trains resumed carrying crude oil through Maine in March after a four-month hiatus, during which oil was shipped by other means, primarily through sea or pipeline.
Three Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway employees are facing criminal charges in connection with the crude-oil train derailment and explosion that killed 47 people in a small Quebec town last year. The sale of MMA’s American rail assets is expected to close today.
Since last year’s incident, other trains carrying crude oil have ignited in several states, including Virginia, North Dakota and Dr. Alabama, and in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and New Brunswick.
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments