Is North Dakota oil too explosive to carry in a train? Seeing as how nearly all
of the 1 million barrels of oil being railed across the U.S. every day come
from North Dakota’s Bakken shale region, it’s an important question and one
that the federal government, railroads, and oil companies are fighting over.
The oil out of the Bakken
formation is thought to contain high levels of combustible gases, such as
methane and propane, that make it more flammable than other types of crude.
That may explain why first responders in some cases have had such a hard time
putting out the fires that erupt when trains carrying crude derail.
Months before last summer’s deadly
crash in Quebec, the Department of Transportation launched
an investigation to study
the contents of Bakken crude and determine if it needed a separate
classification. In a series of
safety moves last week,
the DOT singled out Bakken crude as being particularly dangerous and subject to
extra precautions. Some of those precautions were then mandated, while others
were left as recommendations.
The Government
Takes a Weak Stab at Making Oil Trains Safer
A report released this week by the American Fuel &
Petrochemical Manufacturers, a Washington lobbying group that represents U.S.
oil refiners, insists that Bakken crude is safe and—while perhaps more volatile
than other types of North American crude—does not need special classification.
The report tested 1,400 samples of
Bakken crude for volatility and to see whether they caught fire at lower
temperatures than other crude. It concluded that Bakken crude “is within the
norm with respect to the hazard characteristics of a light crude oil.”
On a commonly used scale to
measure volatility called Reid Vapor Pressure, Bakken crude registered a 7.83. That
makes it more volatile than West Texas Intermediate, which registered a 5.9,
but more stable than Brent crude from the North Sea, which came in at 9.3. At
the top of the volatility spectrum is something called Arabian Super Light,
which came in at 20.7.
In colder temperatures, however,
Bakken crude was measured becoming much more volatile, with an average score of
12.5. Still, the report states, “Bakken crude oil does not pose risks
significantly different than other crude oils or other flammable liquids
authorized for rail transport.”
Officials from AFPM say their
report proves that the oil train
explosions aren’t the
fault of the crude or of the quality of tank cars carrying the oil, but of the
railroads. Charles Drevna, president of AFPMA, says the railroads face
“major problems” over the maintenance and integrity of their rail networks.
“Those are the things that need to be addressed; it’s not just a different type
of crude that is a problem,” says Drevna.
Refiners have been among the
biggest beneficiaries of the crude rail boom, particularly those on the East
Coast that lack access to pipelines. For decades, they relied on imported crude
from Africa and the Middle East. As prices for imported crude began rising
above domestic oil prices two years ago, many East Coast refiners were
pushed to the brink as
Midwestern counterparts enjoyed big profits off cheap crude. Now that cheap
U.S. crude is getting sent east
by rail, refiners in New Jersey and Pennsylvania are much better
placed, financially.
Trains That Go
Boom
The debate over how to stop oil
trains from exploding has pitted the railroads against the oil companies and
refiners whose product they haul. While the railroads have urged the shippers
to lease stronger tank cars, the oil and refining companies claim the bigger
problem is that railroads need to do a better job at maintaining tracks.
In a number of cases, railroads do
appear to be at fault. The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic
Railway and three of its employees face
criminal charges in the
derailment and explosion of a train in Lac-Megantic last year; safety
investigators found that brakes weren’t applied correctly. A train that
exploded in North Dakota in December crashed into a train carrying soybeans
that had derailed across the tracks while traveling in the opposite direction.
You can’t blame the oil industry for that.
In the most recent accident, the April 30 explosion of a CSX (CSX) train
carrying Bakken crude through Lynchburg, Va., reports
indicate that
sections of the track bed had been washed away by heavy rains. A spokesperson
for CSX declined to comment, saying that the accident is still under investigation
by the National Transportation Safety Board.
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