Over the last three years, you’ve probably heard about the dozens and dozens of actions the Federal Railroad Administration and our partner agency, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, have taken to make transporting crude oil by rail safer.
Today, we took another action – FRA issued a directive to owners of certain tank cars with possible flaws.
Earlier this week, the Federal Railroad Administration made available to States $10 million in grants to improve highway-rail grade crossings and track on routes that transport energy products like crude oil and ethanol.
Highway-rail grade crossings collisions are the second-leading cause of all railroad-related fatalities. And, while the number of fatalities has decreased for the last several decades, the number actually increased last year for the first time this decade. This is a particularly dangerous trend in an era when the volume of energy shipments by rail has increased dramatically.
That's why FRA strongly encourages States with innovative ideas and solutions to apply for these important safety grants.
This week's grant solicitation is just the latest of more than two dozen DOT actions taken in the past two years to increase the safety of transporting energy products by rail...
Rule Will Make Significant and Extensive Changes to Improve Accident Prevention, Mitigation, and Emergency Response.
Today, the U.S. Department of Transportation is issuing a Final Rule that will enhance the safety of transporting flammable liquids –including crude oil and ethanol– by rail.
We are in the midst of an unprecedented increase in North American energy production. This boom in continental production has pushed America's dependence on foreign oil to a 40 year low, created jobs, and helped grow the U.S. and Canadian economies.
It also means that petroleum crude oil and ethanol are being shipped by rail in much larger quantities, and over much greater distances. In 2014, nearly 500,000 carloads containing more than 410 million barrels of Canadian and U.S. crude oil were transported by rail in the United States, and 99.9 percent reached their destination without incident.
The accidents that have occurred, though –involving both crude and ethanol– have had significant and devastating consequences to local communities and the environment. They have shown us that 99.9 percent isn’t good enough. We have to strive for perfection, and today's rule moves us closer to that goal...
A final rule for the safe transportation of flammable liquids by rail.
Please note that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has also published a blog post today on their site: Crude Oil Transport: Working Together to Protect Public Health and Safety.
Since 2013, more than two dozen derailments of trains transporting large quantities of crude oil have occurred, including four this year alone. As DOT pursues a comprehensive rulemaking designed to strengthen tank cars, implement appropriate operational controls, and improve emergency response, we are also taking other actions today that will have an immediate impact on safety.
The boom in crude oil production, and transportation of that crude, poses a serious threat to public safety. The measures we are announcing today are a result of lessons learned from recent accidents and are steps we are able to take today to improve safety.
Our efforts in partnership with agencies throughout this Administration show that this is more than a transportation issue, and we are not done yet...
