California Slams ‘LNG by Rail’ Proposal

SACRAMENTO – In California train tracks crisscross our cities, running behind schools, past houses, near markets and across streets. Despite that proximity the Trump Administration has proposed tearing up current safety rules and allowing liquified natural gas (LNG) trains to rumble across those tracks. California is leading the fight to prevent that from happening.

As part of that opposition Attorney General Xavier Becerra, along with 15 other attorneys general, this week filed a comment letter opposing a proposal by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to ditch long-standing safety rules and allow the nationwide transport of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, by rail for the first time ever.

In Washington, House Transportation & Infrastructure Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon) described the Trump plan as "absurd", saying, “Should even one tank car get punctured, the results could be devastating.”

Liquefied natural gas is flammable, odorless, and highly hazardous. Accidents or derailments of trains transporting liquefied natural gas can cause high intensity fires and violent explosions. The proposed rule would allow these trains, with up to 100 rail cars operated by just one person, to move with inadequate safety precautions through densely populated areas and on the same rail lines used by high-speed passenger trains.

California's Attorney General believes the proposed rule not only endangers communities, but would likely result in an increase of greenhouse gas emissions. The coalition is thus urging PHMSA to withdraw the proposal on the basis that it is unlawful and a public safety risk.

“The Trump Administration has unabashedly bowed to industry requests to put aside the safety of millions of Californians who live, work, and attend schools near the routes of these dangerous trains,” said Attorney General Becerra. “President Trump shouldn’t value the profits of industry over the safety of these communities. This proposed rule would turn cities across the country into potential crash-test laboratories to demonstrate the risk of LNG by rail.”

Natural gas is a major source of energy and greenhouse gas emissions locally, nationally, and globally. While responsibly-produced natural gas is less polluting than coal or oil, it is a significant and growing source of global warming gases in the atmosphere. The production and industrial use of natural gas contributed about a quarter of total greenhouse gas emissions in the United States in 2017.

To allow for transport of natural gas, the substance is converted to liquid form. Liquefied natural gas is considered a hazardous material because it is highly flammable and poses an unreasonable risk to health, safety and property during transport.

The coalition urges PHMSA to withdraw the proposed rule, asserting that it:

• Ignores the hazardous qualities of liquefied natural gas and the lack of experience and research in addressing the risks associated with the substance;

• Improperly disregards the dangers of transport by rail of liquefied natural gas at the request of industry and in conflict with previous recommendations by the agency in violation of both NEPA and APA;

• Understates the significant safety concerns inherent in shipping liquefied natural gas by rail on existing freight corridors; and

• Provides an insubstantial environmental assessment as opposed to a full Environmental Impact Statement as required by NEPA.

In a comment quoted by the attorneys general letter, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said, “the risks of catastrophic LNG releases in accidents is too great not to have operational controls in place before large blocks of tank cars and unit trains proliferate.”

Last year following an attempt by the Administration to force the change through by Executive Order, Congress passed an amendment to an appropriations bill that would have prohibited LNG movement by rail.

The sponsor of that amendment, House Transportation & Infrastructure Chairman DeFazio, spoke strongly against the plan, “In its never-ending quest to put profit ahead of people, the Trump Administration is now trying to bypass long-standing requirements for transportation of LNG by putting it into 100-car trains that roll through densely populated areas at upwards of 50 miles per hour.”

In filing the comment letter Attorney General Becerra was joined by the attorneys general of Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

A copy of the comment letter and appendix can be found here. https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/Comment%20and%20Appendix%20-%20LNG%20Trains.pdf