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North Dakota’s crude moves mostly by rail, due to lack of pipeline capacity
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coming under heavy scrutiny following the
third major explosion in less than a year
involving railcars transporting crude oil
produced from the Bakken Shale in North
Dakota.
The most recent event was a Dec. 30
train collision near Casselton, N.D., that
created a series of explosions and forced
evacuation of Casselton’s 2,400 residents.
The train operator, BNSF Railway Co., said
the early afternoon incident involved two of
its trains traveling in opposite directions.
The trouble began when a westbound
BNSF train carrying grain derailed, and
some of the cars fell onto an adjacent track
carrying the mile-long oil train, which was
heading east. As a result more than 20 tank
cars caught fire, creating a conflagration
that burned unchecked for 24 hours before
firefighters were able to intervene. The fire
had been so intense as darkness fell that
investigators couldn’t get close enough
to count the number of burning cars,
according to the Associated Press.
No one was hurt in the incident, but
Casselton Mayor Ed McConnell pointed out
that dozens of people could have been killed
if the derailments had happened within the
town. “This is too close for comfort,” he told
AP. McConnell said it was time to “have
a conversation” with federal lawmakers
about the dangers of transporting oil by rail.
“There have been numerous derailments in
this area,” he said. “It’s almost gotten to the
point that it looks like it’s not if we’re going
to have an accident, it’s when.”
AP also reports that Gov. Jack Dalrymple
visited Casselton, his hometown, to view
the scene. He called it a “major catastrophe”
that would prompt concern no matter
where it happened. “People will be asking
a lot of questions about the safety of equip-
ment, the safety of railroad operations, and
why did the derailment occur in the first
place,” he said.
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Residents of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec,
were far less fortunate on July 6, 2013,
when an unattended 74-car freight train
carrying Bakken crude ran away and
derailed, causing a massive fire in the center
of town that claimed 47 lives and destroyed
30 buildings.
The other incident occurred on Nov. 8,
when more than two dozen tank cars car-
rying Bakken crude derailed into a swamp
near Aliceville, Ala., releasing nearly
750,000 gallons of crude and causing a
fiery explosion. The
Wall Street Journal
reports that witnesses to that incident said
the fire appeared to spread from one rail
car to the next.
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The latest accident prompted the
U.S. Department of Transportation’s
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration (PHMSA) to “notify the
general public, emergency responders and
shippers and carriers that recent derail-
ments and resulting fires indicate that the
type of crude oil being transported from the
Bakken region may be more flammable than
traditional heavy crude oil.”
The Jan. 2 Safety Alert stated that
PHMSA “is reinforcing the requirement
to properly test, characterize, classify, and
where appropriate sufficiently degasify
hazardous materials prior to and during
transportation.”
“It is imperative that offerors properly
classify and describe hazardous materials
being offered for transportation,” the Alert
states. “As part of this process, offerors
must ensure that all potential hazards of the
materials are properly characterized.”
The Associated Press reports that lighter
crudes like those produced in North Dakota
may contain more natural gas and other
contaminants, which could lower the flash
point. PHMSA’s Jeannie Shiffer told the
AP that knowing the volatility of the oil is
crucial so that it can be properly handled
during shipping.
Fred Millar, a rail safety consultant
based in Virginia, told the AP that the risks
of transporting crude oil should be commu-
nicated to all communities that see crude
oil shipments pass through their borders.
He also suggested that railroads should
consider routing the Bakken oil trains
around highly populated areas.
Larry Bierlein, an attorney for the
Association of Hazmat Shippers, told AP that
the most commonly used rail tank cars have
flaws that make them prone to rupture, and
the public would be better served by the gov-
ernment adopting a long-delayed proposal to
improve those cars, known as DOT-111s.
