In January, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced it was delaying final safety rules designed to protect Americans from trains carrying dangerous, highly explosive fuels through our communities every day. On February 16, an oil train derailed and exploded in West Virginia, showing that disasters won't wait.
After a record-breaking year of oil train derailments, spills and explosions, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has called these dangerous oil trains an "imminent hazard" to the public. They've proposed new standards to make these shipments safer, but these rules don't go far enough and have been delayed for far too long.
Tell the DOT that we need strong rules now to protect our communities from explosive oil trains!
Dear U.S. Department of Transportation,
The recent oil train explosion in West Virginia shows the grave danger posed by unsafe shipments of crude oil by rail. I urge the Department of Transportation to work faster to address this urgent threat to public safety and to ensure that the final rules go beyond the draft rules released last year.
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In particular, the slow phase-out of the notoriously unsafe DOT-111 tankers will do nothing to protect Americans from explosions and spills resulting from derailments until as late as 2020. I urge you to put in place an immediate ban on transporting flammable materials in these dangerous tank cars.
Recent accidents using upgraded tanker cars — like the derailment and explosion in West Virginia — show that removing the DOT-111 tankers alone is not enough. 2011 and newer model tank cars, like the CPC 1232s, must also be phased out no later than the end of 2017 to ensure adequate protection for all communities.
The DOT also must ensure that the final rail safety rule requires new tank car design standards that are at least as stringent as the option proposed by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. I ask that the DOT take a hard look at whether it can go further to ensure risks to public health, safety, property and environment are minimized.
I also urge the DOT to ensure that both the public and first responders are notified of dangerous crude-by-rail shipments through their communities. The proposed one million gallon Bakken crude notification threshold does not provide meaningful protection; all operators carrying any amount of crude must be required to notify the public of the contents, frequency and routing of these trains. People have a right to know when their lives and property are being put at risk by the transportation of hazardous materials.
Please finalize these important rules as quickly as possible, and ensure a rapid implementation period for the new standards. As shipments of crude-by-rail soar around the country, we cannot wait years for new safety standards to take effect. Indeed, even delaying the final rules until May could prove disastrous if another derailment occurs.
