Get Dangerous Oil Tankers Off the Tracks
In the past few years a North American fracking boom has led to a massive increase in crude oil hauled by train. With this boom has come a huge increase in danger from derailments and oil spills.
The tanker cars used to ship flammable Bakken crude are prone to leakage in an accident. And while regulators have long known these DOT-111s are inadequate, safer tankers are expensive, and corporate pressure has kept them in use.
In the aftermath of several explosive derailments, including the wreck of an oil train last year that killed 47 people, the Department of Transportation has finally proposed new rules for DOT-111s, including phasing them out in the next five years. But a five-year promise may not be in time to save lives from these dangerous derailments.
Take action today -- urge the Department to take swift, decisive action and immediately ban these dangerous oil tankers from the tracks for good.
I am writing to urge you to immediately ban the use of DOT-111 tanker cars for hauling Bakken crude oil. Phasing out these tankers over several years poses an ongoing and unacceptable risk to human life, community safety, emergency responders, and the health of the environment. The grave inadequacy of DOT-111s for shipping flammable liquids has been well known to safety experts and federal regulators for decades. And now the dramatic expansion of crude-by-rail shipping in the United States, using these cars, demands the swiftest regulatory action possible.
[Your comment will be added here]
I call on the Department of Transportation to issue an emergency order that immediately prohibits the use of DOT-111s in the transport of American or Canadian Bakken crude oil while other aspects of the proposed rule (Hazardous Materials: Enhanced Tank Car Standards and Operational Controls for High-Hazard Flammable Trains) are phased in. This is the only action that appreciably and instantly reduces the risks of fiery derailments and harmful crude oil spills associated with train accidents.
Thank you,
[Your name]
