Rail Safety Megathread. Updated December 23, 2024

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58. Department of Transportation issues new rules on shipping liquefied natural gas (LNG) by rail

Last edited Fri Aug 21, 2020, 06:18 AM - Edit history (1)

Hat tip, Joe.My.God. A little bit sensationalistic by my standards, but it's what I have.

16 States Warn Of “Bomb Trains” In Lawsuit To Stop Proposed Shipping Of Liquefied Natural Gas By Rail

August 19, 2020

AGs, enviros warn of 'bomb trains' in new lawsuits over shipping LNG by rail

8/18/20 REUTERS LEGAL 19:43:48 • Copyright (c) 2020 Thomson Reuters • Sebastien Malo

REUTERS LEGAL • August 18, 2020

(Reuters) - Sixteen attorneys general and a coalition of six environmental groups separately sued the Trump administration on Tuesday in Washington D.C. federal appeals court over a rule that would allow the transportation by rail of explosive liquefied natural gas, arguing that the measure would be dangerous and could destroy cities.

In this first lawsuit, the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit over the U.S. Department of Transportation rule scheduled to take effect next week, alleging that it violates the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act.

A lawsuit filed shortly thereafter by Democratic attorneys general from Maryland, California, New York and 13 other states also alleges violations of the Administrative Procedure Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.

The DOT's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published on July 24 a finalized version of the new measure, an amendment of the Hazardous Materials Regulations that allows for the bulk nationwide transportation of liquefied natural gas in rail tank cars for first time ever, said Earthjustice attorney Jordan Luebkemann. The rule is slated to take effect on Aug. 24.

To transport natural gas, the substance must be converted to liquid form. Liquefied natural gas is flammable, odorless, and highly hazardous. Derailments of less explosive substances like crude oil have caused serious explosions, the environmental groups say.

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Hazardous Materials: Liquefied Natural Gas by Rail

A Rule by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration on 07/24/2020

AGENCY:

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Department of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION:

Final rule.

SUMMARY:

PHMSA, in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to allow for the bulk transport of “Methane, refrigerated liquid,” commonly known as liquefied natural gas (LNG), in rail tank cars. This rulemaking authorizes the transportation of LNG by rail in DOT-113C120W specification rail tank cars with enhanced outer tank requirements, subject to all applicable requirements and certain additional operational controls. The enhancements to the outer tank are indicated by the new specification suffix “9” (DOT-113C120W9).

DATES:

Effective date: This rule is effective August 24, 2020.

Voluntary compliance date: Voluntary compliance is authorized July 24, 2020.

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I. Overview

In this final rule, PHMSA is authorizing the transportation of LNG by rail tank car, pursuant to Federal Hazardous Materials Transportation law (Federal hazmat law; 49 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.), because we have determined that bulk rail transport is a safe alternative for this energy product. The final rule authorizes the transportation of LNG by rail in DOT-113 tank cars, which have an established track record of safety in transporting other cryogenic flammable materials. The DOT-113 tank car authorized for LNG service will be enhanced with an outer tank that is thicker and made of steel with a greater puncture resistance to provide an added measure of safety and crashworthiness. Additionally, there will be operational controls in the form of enhanced braking requirements, remote Start Printed Page 44995monitoring, and route analysis, which are intended to exceed current safety requirements for other flammable cryogenic materials.

PHMSA's mission is to protect people and the environment by advancing the safe transportation of energy products and other hazardous materials that are essential to our daily lives. To do this, the agency establishes national policy, sets and enforces standards, conducts research to prevent incidents, and prepares the public and first responders to reduce consequences if an incident does occur. PHMSA and FRA share responsibility for regulating the transportation of hazardous materials by rail and take a system-wide, comprehensive approach that focuses on prevention, mitigation, and response to manage and reduce the risk posed to people and the environment. In line with PHMSA's mission and shared responsibility with FRA for oversight of the rail transport of hazardous materials, PHMSA is issuing this final rule to authorize the transportation of LNG by rail in DOT-113C120W specification rail tank cars with enhanced outer tank material and thickness (those enhancements to be indicated by the specification suffix “9”), subject to operational controls for braking, monitoring, and route analysis.

This authorization conforms to the intent and purpose of the HMR (49 CFR parts 171-180), which are designed to ensure the safe transportation of all hazardous materials packagings (including tank cars). Collectively, the HMR combine packaging design and maintenance, operational controls, package handling, employee training, hazard communication, emergency response information, and security plan requirements to safeguard transportation. These measures help ensure that hazardous contents safely remain within a package during the course of transportation while also providing for public awareness and appropriate response mechanisms. Supplemental to the HMR, PHMSA oversees a Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) grant program that provides funding to the emergency response community for training and planning purposes, furthering appropriate response efforts.

The United States leverages domestic technology improvements to transform American life through increased natural gas production and energy independence. As a result, the United States is today the world's largest natural gas producer through economical production from shale and other unconventional formations. Transportation of natural gas, however, can be constrained by the capacity of existing transportation infrastructure, which negatively affects regions with insufficient access to pipelines or ports. This constraint on capacity, coupled with increased natural gas production in the United States, has resulted in the consideration of using rail transport to help efficiently deliver natural gas to domestic U.S. and international markets.

Authorizing the use of proven DOT-113C120W-specification tank cars to transport LNG will allow the rail industry to play a role in the safe, efficient transport of this important energy product for the 21st century. LNG—referred to as “Methane, refrigerated liquid”  within the HMR—has been transported safely by trucks on highways and by marine vessels for over 40 years in the United States, and over 50 years internationally. However, the HMR did not authorize the bulk transport of LNG in rail tank cars prior to this rulemaking action, instead permitting rail transport of LNG only on an ad hoc basis as authorized by the conditions of a PHMSA special permit (49 CFR 107.105) or in a portable tank secured to a rail car pursuant to the conditions of an FRA approval. The recent expansion in U.S. natural gas production has increased interest in a programmatic approach to using appropriately the nation's rail infrastructure to facilitate efficient transportation of LNG. In response to that interest, PHMSA, in coordination with the FRA, issues this final rule to amend the HMR to permit the bulk transport of LNG in DOT-113C120W specification rail tank cars with enhanced outer tank requirements (those enhancements to be indicated by the specification suffix “9”), subject to operational controls for braking, monitoring, and routing.

In addition, this final rule satisfies the directive in Executive Order (E.O.) 13868 [84 FR 15495, April 19, 2019] to propose, consistent with applicable law, regulations that “treat LNG the same as other cryogenic liquids and permit LNG to be transported in approved rail tank cars.”  E.O. 13868 recognizes the leading role that the United States plays in producing natural gas, the importance of improving the United States' capacity to supply natural gas, including LNG, to domestic and international markets, and the need to continue to transport this energy product in a safe and efficient manner. In issuing this final rule, PHMSA furthers the purposes and policies set forth in E.O. 13868 by enabling an additional safe, reliable, and efficient transportation alternative for bringing domestically produced natural gas to existing, and potentially new, markets.

The present action is based on a longstanding understanding of the properties of LNG and an evidence-based approach to the safety of the DOT-113 tank cars designed and used to transport flammable cryogenic materials. At the same time, in promulgating this final rule, and as it does with other hazardous materials, PHMSA recognizes that there is ongoing and potential future research related to the transportation of LNG by all modes. The Agency will continue to use this research to inform potential future regulatory activity, as appropriate.

In the following table, PHMSA provides an overview of: (1) The requirements for LNG transportation in tank cars pursuant to DOT Special Permit 20534 (DOT-SP 20534), issued to Energy Transport Solutions, LLC (ETS) during the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM)  comment period to authorize ETS's rail transportation of LNG along specific routes; (2) the requirements proposed in the October 24, 2019 NPRM; and (3) the requirements adopted in this final rule. Requirements related to the thermal performance of the DOT-113C120W tank car are unchanged from the NPRM (75 psig maximum start to discharge pressure; maximum pressure when offered; and design service temperature). But this final rule, after consideration of comments received in the docket and to provide additional operational controls and crashworthiness for LNG tank cars, adopts supplemental requirements to those initially proposed in the NPRM: Remote monitoring of pressure and location for LNG tank cars in Start Printed Page 44996transportation; two-way end-of-train (EOT) or distributed power (DP) system for trains transporting 20 or more loaded tank cars of LNG in a continuous block, or 35 or more loaded tank cars of LNG throughout the train; and a requirement that railroads comply with § 172.820 route planning requirements. In addition, to account properly for the properties of LNG, this final rule raises the maximal filling density limit to 37.3% from the proposed 32.5%. Finally, in this final rule PHMSA is also adopting enhanced outer tank requirements compared with the requirements that apply to other DOT-113C120W-specification tank cars, including a thicker 9/16th inch outer tank made from high quality TC-128B normalized steel. Compliance with these enhanced outer tank requirements will be indicated by the new specification suffix “9” (DOT-113C120W9).

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