Regulators say oil in recent accidents may be more dangerous to move by rail
Federal regulators believe the oil involved in the July 2012 Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway explosion in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, may be more dangerous to move by rail than other varieties.
The Portland Press Herald reported the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued its preliminary conclusion about the Bakken oil last week, three days after another explosive crash in North Dakota, which was the fourth in the last six months.
Rail transport of that oil through Maine to Irving Oil’s refinery in Saint John, Nova Scotia, has already decreased sharply since the Lac-Megantic crash, the paper reported, with Pam Am Railways in October shipping less than one-fifth of the oil the company shipped during the spring.
Nationally, around three-quarters of the Bakken oil travels via rail, but Chalmers Hardenburgh, editor of the trade publication Atlantic Northeast Rails and Ports, told the paper that transports to New Brunswick are now being carried on the Canadian National Railway and by ships leaving from Albany, N.Y., and up the New England coast to Saint John.
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