Biden-Buttigieg put the brakes on 'bomb trains'

[DonViejo]

Sarah Okeson, DCReport @ RawStory
March 20, 2021

President Joe Biden, known as "Amtrak Joe" for his train trips to Washington, D.C., from Delaware as a senator, could reverse the Team Trump approval of "bomb trains" carrying liquefied natural gas.

The Trump rule financially benefits an energy company tied to a hedge fund that loaned millions to the Trump Organization and the Kushner Companies. New York prosecutors are examining those financial ties to Trump.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said during his confirmation hearing that he planned to take a "hard look" at the rule.

Liquefied natural gas is even more volatile than Bakken crude oil carried on trains like the one that derailed and caught fire on July 6, 2013, in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, killing 47 people. Most of the victims had to be identified with DNA samples and dental records. The bodies of five of the people were never recovered.

more
https://www.rawstory.com/bomb-train/

[kimbutgar]

1. In the SF Bay Area they tried to stop these trains which went though the middle of Jack London

Square in Oakland. But the mf45 administration ruled against them. I’m glad it is being revisited and could be banned.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. This "rule" needs to be reversed, on a couple of grounds:

First, this:

The Trump rule financially benefits an energy company tied to a hedge fund that loaned millions to the Trump Organization and the Kushner Companies. New York prosecutors are examining those financial ties to Trump.

And secondly, the environmental damage that is caused when this stuff spills and burns. It's a complete disaster, anyway you look at it.

I hope Sec'y Pete will look hard and then reverse this order. I cannot imagine that he'd do anything else.

[EX500rider]

3. So more pipelines then?

I assume everyone still wants hot water, heat and a working gas stove?

[gratuitous]

4. Here's the tell on liquefied natural gas

If there's anything desirable going in on the West Coast, it's sited in California or Washington. Oregon considered it a major coup a few years ago when a NOAA facility was moved to Newport from Washington state.

The siting of an LNG terminal on the West Coast is going to be a Jordan Cove in Oregon or nowhere. Washington doesn't want it, and they don't have to take it. California doesn't want it, and they don't have to take it. So that leaves Oregon and the standard empty promise of jobs and energy dominance and lower cavities and higher test scores. We don't want the LNG terminal here either, but it's taken an incredibly organized and dedicated opposition movement to keep it out of the state since the owners want to short-cut safety and environmental regulation. The terminal is apparently not so wildly profitable that the owners can spend the money to keep it safe.

The former guy's administration even went so far as to try to force the siting of the terminal at Jordan Cove by overriding Oregon's environmental laws, and not requiring a Clean Water permit. That's how you can tell how desirable the terminal is. Local input be damned, Pembina wants a West Coast facility, and they can't push Washington or California around, so it's got to go in Oregon.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. "Even More Volatile". Ya Think?

That's quite the understatement!
Crude oil is combustible. When hot, it becomes a conflagrating material with combustion rates under 100meters/second. It's loaded with compounds that don't volatilize until very high temperature is reached, by which time the more energetic, and faster burning components are gone.
Methane (the preponderant component in LN gas) in its proper combustion range, has a supersonic burn rate. Plus, the energy per unit mass is roughly 40% higher. And, IT'S A GAS. I'd say that more volatile!
More accurately, crude oil can cause a huge mess & a big fire, but a tank car of methane IS A BOMB!
There's really no comparison.
One truck of liquefied propane careened off the road in Spain and killed around 220 people. A high percentage of the bodies were just ashes. 35,000 pounds of propane, not 160,000 pounds of methane.
Methane is even more energetic & produces a more aggressive blast wave.
The danger between LN & crude really don't begin to compare.