Report: Industry proposes to phase out older tank cars

[Rhiannon12866]

The oil industry and the railroad companies responsible for transporting crude oil, have offered U.S. regulators a plan that would phase out the type of older tanks cars connected to recent fiery derailments.

The proposal comes after pressure on Capitol Hill and in states impacted by crude-by-rail crashes has increased, raising expectations that regulators will update standards for the oil tankers transporting the product.

The plan also requires slightly thicker walls for new cars to protect them from punctures, according to people close to the proposal, Bloomberg reports.

All parties agreed to trash thousands of DOT-111s tank cars within three years if manufacturers say they can replace or retrofit the cars in that timeframe.

More: http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/212249-report-industry-proposes-to-phase-out-older-tank-cars

[NYC_SKP]

1. I'd support this under conditions that replacement cars be domestic in origin.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. This caught my attention because Rachel Maddow did a great report on it

I missed her tonight, but I hope she follows up with this positive news. And I agree with you, think outsourcing has been a big part of the problem.

[DeSwiss]

3. Here's an even better idea:

- Build more of these cars and we won't need any new oil tanker cars at all.....

K&R

[Rhiannon12866]

4. Thanks! But I think I'll stick with my tuk-tuk!

Brave duo attempts to schlep across Eurasia in solar-powered tuk-tuk
http://www.democraticunderground.com/112772470

[DeSwiss]

6. I'm putting this on my Wish List.

- How much tuk would a tuk-tuk tuk if a tuk-tuk could tuk, tuks?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

5. Anyone who buys propane knows about the changes in the tanks...

They were altering the valves every so often just so you would have to do tank exchanges instead of saving a few bucks with refills.

Record profits?

What goes around, comes around.

[madokie]

7. Been seeing some long trains full of tank cars

coming through here going from north to south lately. Mostly newer tank cars but with some obviously older tank cars mixed in with the new ones. While sitting waiting for one of them to pass the other day I noticed the tank cars are about 8 ft in diameter and 40 ft long, best I can tell observing them passing at about 45 mph or so. I would say there were close to 100 of those cars per train. That would be a lot of oil.


ETA: Back of napkin figures says that would be approximately 350 barrels of oil per tanker car. If there were 100 tankers that would mean that roughly 3.5 million barrels of oil was transported. Not bad for a days work, huh.

Early, not much java yet so I may be wrong in my napkinese

[PeaceMonger12345]

8. JUST SOME EPA DOCUMENT I FOUND ON RAILROAD TANK CARS

This is a rather lengthy EPA document related to Railroad Cars

5.2.1 General
The transportation and marketing of petroleum liquids involve many distinct operations, each of
which represents a potential source of evaporation loss. Crude oil is transported from production operations
to a refinery by tankers, barges, rail tank cars, tank trucks, and pipelines. Refined petroleum products are
conveyed to fuel marketing terminals and petrochemical industries by these same modes. From the fuel
marketing terminals, the fuels are delivered by tank trucks to service stations, commercial accounts, and local
bulk storage plants. The final destination for gasoline is usually a motor vehicle gasoline tank. Similar
distribution paths exist for fuel oils and other petroleum products. A general depiction of these activities is
shown in Figure 5.2-1. (please see the document)
5.2.2 Emissions And Controls
Evaporative emissions from the transportation and marketing of petroleum liquids may be
considered, by storage equipment and mode of transportation used, in four categories:

http://www.epa.gov/ttnchie1/ap42/ch05/final/c05s02.pdf

1. Rail tank cars, tank trucks, and marine vessels: loading, transit, and ballasting
2. Service stations: bulk fuel drop losses and underground tank breathing losses. (here I suppose the worker safety is considered)
3. Motor vehicle tanks: refueling losses.
4. Large storage tanks: breathing, working, and standing storage losses. (See Chapter 7, "Liquid
Storage Tanks".)