AFPM Statement on DOT Enhanced Tank Car Standards

WASHINGTON - The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers reacted to the new Enhanced Tank Car Standards announced today by the Department of Transportation with the following statement from AFPM Executive Vice President Brendan Williams: “We are in the process of reviewing the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Enhanced Tank Car Standards and will have more to say once our analysis is completed. AFPM members, however, have demonstrated a commitment to improved crude by rail safety; voluntarily investing more than $4 billion to upgrade tank cars in advance of this regulation. We intend to work with DOT to implement today’s mitigation-focused rulemaking to the greatest extent possible, but caution that this aggressive retrofit schedule is unrealistic and may be disruptive to transporting crude oil to markets across the country. Now that tank car specifications have been addressed, AFPM suggests that it is long overdue for DOT to show similar concern for the root causes of train derailments: track integrity and human error. Keeping the trains on the tracks should be of the highest priority for DOT. The best way to mitigate an incident is to prevent it from happening.”