State AGs call for crude oil volatility standards

A coalition of six state attorneys general called on the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to adopt a standard requiring that all crude oil transported by rail in the U.S. achieve a vapor pressure of under 9.0 pounds per square inch.    A coalition of six state attorneys general expressed strong support for a nationwide limit on the vapor pressure of crude oil transported by rail in the United States in a letter sent last Friday to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Executive Director Howard McMillan.
   New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman led the coalition, which also included California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh, Maine Attorney General Janet T. Mills and Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson.
   In the letter, the coalition called on the PHMSA to adopt a standard requiring that all crude oil transported by rail in the U.S. achieve a vapor pressure of less than 9.0 pounds per square inch (psi).
   The coalition’s comments were filed in response to PHMSA’s Jan. 18, 2017 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM). Comments were originally to be excepted until March 20, 2017, but the deadline was extended to last Friday.
   Schneiderman filed a petition for rulemaking with PHMSA in December 2015 to set the national limit on vapor pressure of crude oil transported by rail at less than 9.0 psi, and in December 2016, specifically citing Schneiderman’s petition, the agency announced it would issue an ANPRM to gather public comment on vapor pressure limits, a release from Schneiderman’s office explained.
   “Because of a regulatory loophole, these trains can carry crude oil through some of our most densely populated areas without any limit on explosiveness or flammability,” Schneiderman said.
   “In the past 10 years, U.S. production of crude oil has nearly tripled – and most of it is now being shipped by rail,” said Natural Resources Defense Council Staff Attorney Kimberly Ong. “The frequency of related deadly fires and explosions has also skyrocketed across the country.”
   Accidents of trains carrying crude oil have resulted in various catastrophic incidents, including the 2016 train derailment in Mosier, Ore., where the fire caused the evacuation of nearly one-quarter of the town’s residents, and with the 2013 Lac-Mégantic, Quebec accident, in which a derailed train burst into flames, destroying the downtown area and killing 47 people.