$fracked oil train car$

$fracked oil train car$

Said de Place of Sightline: 'We're just not prepared for this, at the local or federal levels.CURWOOD: From the Jennifer and Ted Stanley Studios in Boston and PRI, this is Living on Earth. Train car safety has become a hot issue following oil train accidents, including a crash in July 2013 that killed 47 people in Quebec. The parent firm, CSX Corp., is based in Jacksonville, Florida. That freight train originated from the Bakken shale in North Dakota was run by CSX Transportation, CSX's principal operating company. More from NBCNews: Read More New oil cars may not be safe enoughĬSX operated another oil train that derailed and caught fire in Lynchburg, Virginia last April. Testifying before the National Transportation Safety Board, NBC News reported Robert Fronczak, assistant vice president of environment and hazardous materials for the Association of American Railroads, said the most updated standard adopted by the industry in 2011 is 'no longer adequate.' Prior testimony suggests even newer oil car models adopted by the industry in 2011 may not be sufficient. Measured another way, railroads shipped an estimated 425,000 rail carloads of crude oil-that's roughly 815,000 barrels per day. railroads moved 11 times more crude oil than all the oil moved by train from 2005 to 2009, according to data from an American Association of Railroads report published in late 2013. While there's some pipeline capacity to ship the shale oil, the main transport option is America's railroads. Read More Inside North Dakota's latest fracking problem The region's fracking boom has generated jobs and boom towns, and transformed the region into acres of grasslands now dotted with natural gas flares that are visible from space. The oil is buried deep in the ground, and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, forces natural gas and crude oil out of the shale buried deep below the earth by using highly pressurized and treated water. The bulk of oil transported on America's rails is from the Bakken formation-a large source of oil that straddles North Dakota, and portions of Montana and Canada.

$fracked oil train car$

Federal rules and self-imposed safety practices dictate train speeds, according to the association's website. The Association of American Railroads, the trade group, said freight railroads have employee training and operating procedures that govern handling and movement of crude oil. 'They're riddled with design flaws,' de Place said. But CSX said all of the oil cars were newer CPC 1232 models-not older model tank cars criticized for being prone to puncture.īut Sightline's de Place said most oil cars have design gaps, including walls that are too thin. The cause of the derailment is under investigation. One person was being treated for possible respiratory problems, but no other injuries were reported. In a statement, CSX said it was working with first responders and federal, state and local officials on the oil train derailment near Mount Carbon, West Virginia. Monday's train derailment affected two counties, and forced some West Virginia residents to flee their homes in winter weather as power cut out and drinking water was threatened.

$fracked oil train car$

Fracked oil train car