US regulator: No firm deadline for tank car rules

  • Market: Biofuels, Crude oil, Oil products, Petroleum transportation
  • 15/01/15

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (Phmsa) has no firm timetable for releasing sweeping new rules for tank cars carrying crude and ethanol, the agency's acting administrator said today.

"I do not have the answer," acting Phmsa chief Timothy Butters told the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers winter meeting in Chicago, Illinois. "But I can assure you (transportation secretary Anthony Foxx) as well as all of us are very mindful of the importance of this. We will get it out as quickly as possible."

A timetable released by the Department of Transportation indicated Phmsa would send to a proposal to the Office of Management and Budget by 30 January and publish it by mid-May. Butters did not indicate those dates were firm.

Sifting and considering more than 3,000 public comments have delayed the process, as well as "good harmonization" with Canadian regulators going through a parallel process to avoid "differences between Canadian requirements and US requirements that would preclude cross-border transportation."

Regulators took aim at toughening the North American fleet of tank cars carrying light crude and ethanol last year after a spate of five fiery Bakken crude unit train derailments, including a runaway train accident in July 2013 that killed 47 people in Lac-Megantic, Quebec.

The Phmsa rulemaking will cover tank car specifications, potential route restrictions for crude and ethanol as well as how and where to implement speed limits for crude and ethanol.

mgb/dcb



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