NTSB head wants faster action on oil trains

National Transportation Safety Board chairman Deborah Hersman wants steps to be taken immediately to protect the public from potentially catastrophic oil train accidents — even if it means using emergency authority.

She made the remarks April 23 as the Transportation Department continues its work drafting tougher standards for tank cars used to transport oil and ethanol, and other steps needed to prevent or mitigate accidents.

But speaking to reporters at the conclusion of a two-day forum NTSB held on the rail transport of oil and ethanol, Hersman said there isn’t time to wait for the cumbersome federal rulemaking process — which often takes many years to complete.

“We are very clear that this issue needs to be acted on very quickly,” she said. “There is a very high risk here that hasn’t been addressed.”

Federal regulators have the authority to issue emergency orders or interim rules to protect the public rather than running the risk of another accident occurring before regulations are in place, Hersman said.

“They aren’t moving fast enough,” she said. “We don’t need a higher body count before they move forward.”

Hersman, who is stepping down as chairman at the end of the week, said that over her 10 years on the board, she had “seen a lot of difficulty when it comes to safely rules being implemented if we don’t have a high enough body count.”

“That is a tombstone mentality,” she said. “We know the steps that will prevent or mitigate these accidents. What is missing is the will to require people to do so.”

Locally, 110-car, mile-and-a-quarter long oil trains pulled by BNSF Railway locomotives frequently cross the Continental Divide at Marias Pass, run through the narrow John F. Stevens Canyon along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River and the southern boundary of Glacier National Park, and pass through the Flathead Valley and the communities of Columbia Falls and Whitefish.

Each train can be hauling 1 million gallons of explosive and flammable crude oil from the Bakken fields of North Dakota. Avalanche danger in the Canyon was particularly bad this past winter, and the National Park Service issued BNSF a permit to use explosives to mitigate that danger to passing trains.

And not too many years ago, heavy 110-car grain trains occasionally derailed in the Canyon. A grain train that derailed near Casselton, N.D. on Dec. 30 last year caused a passing oil train to also derail, spilling about 400,000 gallons of crude in a fiery crash that forced local evacuations.

The Transportation Department issued a statement in response to Hersman’s criticism.

“Safety is our top priority, which is why we’re putting every option on the table when it comes to improving the safe transport of crude oil by rail.

“In addition to moving forward on updating tank car regulations, we have taken immediate action to issue multiple safety advisories, conduct investigations, and reach agreements with the rail industry to reduce speeds, utilize new braking technology and improve first responder training — an unprecedented, comprehensive approach.”

Concerns about the safe transport of highly flammable oil and ethanol were heightened after a runaway oil train derailed and then exploded last July in the small town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec. More than 60 tank cars spilled more than 1.3 million gallons of crude oil from the booming Bakken region of North Dakota and Montana. Forty-seven people were killed and 30 buildings destroyed in resulting inferno.

There have been eight oil train accidents in the U.S. and Canada in the past year. The accidents reflect a dramatic increase in oil shipments by rail as a result of the fracking boom in the Bakken region and other parts of the U.S.

U.S. transportation officials have taken a number of steps to prevent or mitigate similar accidents. In January, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx won commitments from rail industry officials to adopt voluntary measures to address some safety concerns.

But there has been a lack of consensus between railroads, the oil industry and rail car makers on the critical issue of tougher tank car standards, as well as whether to phase out or retrofit older tank cars.

Transportation Department officials have said it will issue regulations to force action, but the requirements of the federal rulemaking process — including demonstrating that the cost of regulations will be outweighed the number of lives saved — makes the process slow. Final regulations are at least months, and possibly years, away.