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Oil Industry Sues US Government Over Oil Train Safety Rules
Submitted by Andy Tully via OilPrice.com,
America’s largest energy trade association is suing the US government, contending that its timeline for upgrading oil tank cars for freight trains isn’t realistic and, in some cases, is too expensive.
In its suit filed on May 11 in the US District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the American Petroleum Institute (API) asked the panel to block the new regulations, issued May 1 by both Canada and the United States, that would require reinforcing the tank cars and fitting them with advanced braking systems.
The companies that build the cars, or those that have already leased them, were given between five and ten years to retrofit cars, called DOT-111 tank cars, that carry crude oil and other flammable liquids, depending on the nature of their intended cargo and each car’s current set of safety features.
The API said that timeline doesn’t give them enough time to make the upgrades. It also said the cost of installing new electronic braking systems of the cars exceeded their benefits. API spokesman Brian Straessle argued that “retrofit timelines, braking systems and other actions must all be based on facts and science to maximize the safety impact of this rule.”
But Straessle added, “[w]e definitely support upgrades to the fleet. It’s a matter of timing.”
The rail industry’s principal trade group, the Association of American Railroads, also opposed the braking requirement, though it is less critical of the timeline for retrofitting. Perhaps this is because railroads don’t own the cars, and so the cost and effort needed for retrofitting falls on the companies that build or lease the tank cars.
Named in the API’s suit were US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Tim Butters, acting chief of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which enforces such rules.
Responding on behalf of the government, Transportation Department spokeswoman Suzi Emmerling said it was “disappointing” that the API had filed the suit. “We believe the rule will stand up to challenge in court,” she said, “and remain hopeful that industries impacted by these changes will accept their safety obligations and follow the new regulations.”
There have been several derailments, oil spills and explosions on oil trains over the past two years, most of them involving oil being transported east from the Dakotas, home of the vast Bakken shale. The worst of them involved a runaway oil train that exploded in the Quebec Township of Lac-Mégantic on July 6, 2013, killing 47 people. None of the others was fatal.
In announcing the new rules, Foxx and Canadian Transport Minister Lisa Raitt said they would go a long way to improving safety. But the plan immediately drew criticism not only from the energy and rail industries but from elsewhere as well.
Safety advocates said the new regulations didn’t go far enough to prevent rail catastrophes. And even environmentalists complained that the timeline for retrofitting the tank cars is far too long to wait to ensure safe rail transport of oil.
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This could get awkward...
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No, the oil industry sues the American Taxpayer. Guess who wins?
Well it's more a matter of embarrassing the government, pipelines can't be built so screw with the government for fun and profit.....
why can't we just build pipelines?
Why can't we wind the track carrying these oil cars past Warren's house, or better, follow him wherever he goes?
No problem. All we have to do is dip into our budget surplus and fix the US infrastructure.
/s
Pipelines will always be a safer choice than rail. And politics always gets in the way of common sense.
Two of the biggest nut jobs in history in that photo.....
You are mistaken. Neither of them is nuts, however both of them are criminal lying scum.
Ah, the prestigious Medal of Deception.
Soon Chinese corporations will sue US over worker safety rules, thanks TPP.
"Soon Chinese corporations will sue US over worker safety rules, thanks TPP."
Let's just start calling the TPP what it really is, a globalist coup d'etat. Once we cede the ability to write and enforce our own laws, we really have ceased to exist as a political entity. From that point on all voting is only theater.
There are enormous number of jobs dependent on worker safety, environment, consumer laws, zoning - regulations of every description - will be coming off with TTP and the jobs will be gone - these are white collar positions !!!!
the top twenty % will have their day of retribution - it is less than 36 months off
People have no idea how far reaching this TTP wil be - the monopoly positions that will be put in place will result in huge price increases as corners are created and the anti trust laws are put away for good
it's not just the Chinese corporations that will sue US government but any large corporation will be able to sue any government.
same thing is happening with the Atlantic treaty, being negotiated in secret.
I predict the FF industry will eventually get what it wants.
And eventually eventually, get what it deserves.
And with TPP and TTIP this will become common practice. and the court will be provided by the same industry. Or government just let's all regulations go in order to prevent being sued and having to pay up to industry due to "missed earnings". Because that is what industry wants: deregulation of all labor, social and environmental laws and regulations so they can continue with their scorched earth policy of making profit at the expense of everything else.
TPP and TTIP will formalize into law what already works in practice: real power over society resides in corporate boards, not in elected bodies or in the electorate. But these "trade agreements" will make it soooo much easier and cheaper for corporations to prevent governments from enacting any laws or rules that lessen profits - such as labor laws, environmental laws, tax laws, laws outlawing poisons in food or water......
Once TPP and TTIP are in place, corporations can dispense with constantly buying politicians to act in the interests of the corporations. This is the final sale of democracy to the multinationals, but the bought-and-paid-for politicans don't see that they are cutting off their own gravy train.
So, get started on Keystone and tell buffet to fuck off. Pipelines don't crash and explode much.
Don't tell Buffett to fuck off, he is, contrary to popular ZH believe, Pro Keystone.
http://fortune.com/2015/03/02/warren-buffett-i-would-have-passed-keystone/
Tell Obummer who vetoed it to fuck off.
Is this another 'don't listen to what Buffet says, but watch what he does' type things?
Tell both of them to fuck off.
double