American Petroleum Institute

STB Eyes Alternatives to URCS (UPDATED May 25)

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) in October 2022 sought public comment on a new report that identifies and evaluates alternatives to the Uniform Railroad Costing System (URCS) that could be used as a replacement general-purpose costing methodology. The Association of American Railroads (AAR) and the Western Coal Traffic League (WCTL) respond.

Commentary

Alberta tar sands lobby demands CBR nationalization

Even in this new world order, when profoundly held beliefs are cast aside according to the whims of political weather, the Oct. 24 call by the Canadian oil lobby for a government takeover of crude by rail (CBR) is a stunning abandonment of principle.

AAR, ACC, API to Trump: Kill the tariffs—before they kill us

In July 11, 2018 commentary published in the Washington Examiner, AAR President and CEO Ed Hamberger teamed with American Chemistry Council President and CEO Cal Dooley and American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard to point out the inherent folly of President Donald Trump’s planned imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum, which would almost certainly cause a simmering trade war with vital economic partners to boil out of control, killing jobs and flushing U.S. economic security into the sewer.

TankCarRetrofitChart

DOT-117 tank car rule debuts with controversy

The final spec for the now-official DOT-117 (TC-117 in Canada) non-pressurized tank car adopts the most demanding of the technical requirements first offered for comment in the notice of rulemaking: jacketed and thermally insulated shells of 9/16-inch steel, full-height half-inch-thick head shields, sturdier, re-closeable pressure relief valves and rollover protection for top fittings.

Commentary

FRA freezes on tank car sloshing; DOE oil volatility bombshell drops like a dud

How crude oil sloshing inside moving tank cars affects train stability was under close scrutiny by the Federal Railroad Administration, the regulator’s Acting Administrator told reporters back on March 13. That was after a string of mid-winter oil train disasters exposed the prevailing focus on tank car thickness to be essentially pointless in the quest to prevent oil train derailments and explosions.

Commentary
  • News

API twisting DOE report on crude oil

A survey of crude oil science commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy is being cited, rather loosely, by the oil industry’s national lobby to discredit proponents of compulsory treatment of crude oil before it is loaded into railcars.

AAR, API collaborate on CBR first-responder safety course

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) and American Petroleum Institute (API) have collaborated on a new crude-by-rail (CBR) introductory safety course for first responders. This course is available free of charge to emergency response organizations and fire departments via the Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response (TRANSCAER®) program, of which railroads and oil companies are members.

Railcar builder stocks tumble following PHMSA NPRM comment period

Shares of The Greenbrier Companies and Trinity Industries fell 10.2% and 7.7%, respectively, in afternoon trading on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014, one day after the deadline for final comments on the U.S. DOT Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on tank cars carrying flammable liquids. Wall Street analysts attributed the stock plunge (which also affected American Railcar Industries, down 5.8%) to investor wariness over an “oil tank car rule fight.”
Commentary
  • News

API emphasizing collaboration, not confrontation

Following the recent, unrelated series of crude oil train derailments that resulted in fires, explosions, and in the case of Lac-Mégantic, tragedy and death, CBR (crude by rail) has come under intense scrutiny by regulatory and safety agencies, legislators, the media, the public, the oil industry, and the rail industry itself. Tank car safety standards as well as CBR operating practices—including those at origin and destination points—are being evaluated to determine if changes need to be made to improve safety, and what those changes should be.