By James Mac Pherson
 |
| Crude oil shipments by train |
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The future of crude oil shipments by train
depends on proving to the public that it can be done safely, the head of BNSF
Railway Co. said Wednesday.
"Without focus on the elements of safety, the social
license to haul crude by rail will disappear, to say nothing of the regulatory
agencies' response," BNSF Executive Chairman Matt Rose told several
hundred people at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference in Bismarck.
BNSF is based in Fort Worth, Texas, but is part of Warren
Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., based in Omaha, Nebraska. The railroad is
the biggest player in the rich oil fields of Montana and North Dakota, hauling
about 75 percent of the more than 1 million barrels that moves out of the
region daily.
Rose told the conference that the railroad is committed to
preventing accidents like its Dec. 30 crash outside Casselton that left an
ominous cloud over the town and led some residents to evacuate. The disaster in
the small town west of Fargo was one of at least eight major accidents during
the last year, including an explosion of Bakken crude in Lac-Megantic, Quebec
that killed 47 people. Other trains carrying Bakken crude have since derailed
and caught fire in Alabama, New Brunswick and Virginia.
Rose last month joined U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony
Foxx at the North Dakota crash site, where options for enhancing tank car
standards were discussed.
The crash occurred when a train carrying soybeans derailed in
front of a BNSF oil train, causing that train to also derail and set off fiery
explosions. The crash spilled about 400,000 gallons of crude oil, which took
nearly three months to clean up.
Rose said the railroad has learned from the disaster and has
done such things as decreased train speeds in some areas and increased
inspections. The railroad also announced in February that it would voluntarily
purchase a fleet a of 5,000 strengthened tank cars to improve safety for
hazardous materials shipments. The company said it hoped to accelerate the
transition to a new generation of safer tank cars and give manufacturers a head
start in designing them as federal officials consider changes to the current
standards.
Not everyone in the oil sector is eager to transition to
stronger tank cars. At the expo a day earlier, Kari Cutting, vice president of
the North Dakota Petroleum Council, said it was "not proven that extra steel
is going to prevent those breaches."
Cutting also said the newer, stronger DOT-111 tank cars have 14
percent less capacity than older tank cars. Cutting said making those cars the
standard will require hundreds more trains to make up the lost volume, actually
increasing the risk of accidents.
Oil from North Dakota began being shipped by trains in 2008 when
the state reached capacity for pipeline shipments. The state is now the
nation's No. 2 oil producer, behind Texas.
BNSF said it plans to invest $5 billion in its railroad this
year, including $900 million to expand capacity where crude oil shipments are
surging. Its 2014 spending plan is about $1 billion more than last year, a
record, Rose said.
Much of the upgrades will be aimed at safety, he said.
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