generalspeaking

Government Oversight, Rail Responsibility

According to a July 29 letter to the American Petroleum Institute, Thomas Herrmann, acting director for safety assurance and compliance at the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration advised that a broad investigation has been launched into whether the shipping practices of the industry are in compliance with federal safety regulations.

The American Petroleum Institute has thus been put on notice that its members will be requested to hand in analytical data on the content of their shipments of crude oil. Along with other information on loading practices for said crude oil. Should such data not be made available, the FRA is prepared to conduct its own testing.

This follows directly on the July 6 catastrophic derailment of an unmanned runaway train carrying crude oil from a North Dakota extraction source through the Quebec rail town of Lac-Megantic to its destination, an Irving oil refinery located in New Brunswick. The train carrying the 72-tank-car load of crude exploded in deadly chemical fireballs in the centre of town after derailing, killing 47 town inhabitants and razing buildings and homes.



For its part, Canada's Transportation Safety Board is in the process of analysing the tankers' contents. To determine whether the contents reflect accurately what had been identified on the shipping documents. The fire in its intensity appeared abnormal in nature, contrasting with the waybills content listings. An investigation is also underway to examine the tanker cars themselves, assessing whether they reflected the correct safety classification for hazardous oil carriage.

Crude oil, blended from various source wells before being shipped, is not tested before being pumped into tanker cars. Shippers are, as a result, not fully knowledgeable regarding chemical properties present. One shipper had placed the highest hazardous crude into a rail tanker suited for only the lowest degree of crude, as an example. "It is critical that shippers determine the proper classification of the crude oil", stated the FRA letter.

Rail cars are frequently overloaded, the FRA discovered. As crude oil heats and expands during transportation, overloading can result in leaks. Leaks from crude oil tankers are seen to be doubly frequent as leaks from alcohol, representing the next highest hazardous material. Finally, cars in a unit train "do not typically pass over weigh-in-motion scales in classification yards"; cannot, therefore be identified as overloaded.

Then again, fracking compounds make their chemical and corrosive way into the crude oil during the extraction process. Hydrochloric acid from cracking (aiding in the release of crude from oil well rock formations), mix with the crude. Resulting in an "increasing number of incidents" involving corrosive damage to the interior of tank cars, impacting "manway" covers, valves and fittings.

A preliminary investigation into whether industry properly analyses and classifies substances in crude oil shipments for their corrosive and flammable potential led the FRA to discover these safety problems. This kind of content verification is necessary to enable shippers to ensure the crude is transported in tanker cars equipped to contain hazardous materials in the event of an accident.

And there it is, the accident.The devastating train crash in Lac Megantic, Que., prompted the U.S. investigation of its rail practices. Photo: The Canadian Press

"I'm not impressed at all by the behaviour of MMA, and from the beginning of the process its behaviour has been lamentable. I find it scandalous."
Quebec Superior Court Justice Martin Castonguay

"We're keeping a hawk's eye on a company that doesn't talk to us or inform us of anything and it makes no sense."
Guy Farrell, Quebec chapter, United Steelworkers union

"The company is basically insolvent, so it doesn't mean much for the people. It's like when someone is terminally ill and you place them in palliative care rather than leave them out on the street." 
Louis Coallier, Lac-Megantic lawyer, questioning why a rail company authorized to transport hazardous material was permitted to take out only $25-million in liability insurance, hardly enough to cover mounting claims against it.  

Labels: Canada-US Relations, Disaster, Natural Resources, Quebec

posted by Pieface @ Saturday, August 10, 2013