Transportation

"WASHINGTON — Rail tank cars being used to ship crude oil from North Dakota's Bakken region are an 'unacceptable public risk,' and even cars voluntarily upgraded by the industry may not be sufficient, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday."

"Federal regulators on Tuesday ordered shippers to properly test and classify crude oil from the productive Bakken region before loading it onto freight trains, a move meant to tighten regulatory standards after a spate of derailments and explosions that highlighted the hazards of carrying crude oil on rails."

"Dozens of freight trains roll through downtown Parkville each day, their blaring horns annoying to anyone with ears. But the chief of the Southern Platte Fire Protection District, Richard Carrizzo, has far more chilling concerns these days."

"If an oil train explosion on the scale of last year's deadly crash in Quebec roiled a U.S. town, would railroads have enough emergency personnel and equipment ready to respond? In most cases, transportation regulators don't know."

"A fire-ravaged ship loaded with hazardous chemicals has become a maritime football in the north Pacific, with Japan and South Korea unwilling to give it refuge even though they risk a wider environmental disaster if it sinks."

"WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation collects relatively small civil penalties against the railroads it regulates, as concern grows over the safety of shipping large volumes of crude oil and ethanol in tank cars long known to be deficient, federal documents show."

"Looking overseas for profits, industry giants are building shipping terminals that pollute nearby communities."

"The National Transportation Safety Board called Thursday for federal regulators to take more aggressive steps to protect the public and the environment from oil spills and fires from trains."

"WASHINGTON — More crude oil was spilled in U.S. rail incidents last year than was spilled in the nearly four decades since the federal government began collecting data on such spills, an analysis of the data shows."

"In coming weeks, the U.S. Coast Guard will decide whether to allow wastewater from the hydraulic fracturing industry to be shipped along federal waterways -- including the Ohio River -- and how strict those rules governing the shipments should be."