NTSB to Prioritize Safe Shipment of Ethanol
by Matt Thompson (Ethanol Producer Magazine) The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board recently released it’s Most Wanted List for 2019 and 2020, with a focus on the ethanol industry.
According to the list, the safe shipment of hazardous materials—including ethanol and crude oil—can be achieved by upgrading current tank cars to the new DOT-117 cars. NTSB notes 16 percent of the U.S. tank car fleet that carries hazardous material has been upgraded so far.
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… Federal Railroad Administration requires cars that are used for shipping ethanol be upgraded or retrofitted by 2023.
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In addition to the newer tank cars, Hall (Robert Hall, NTSB’s director of the Office of Railroad, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials) said the NTSB issued a recommendation to Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to research whether it’s safer to ship undenatured ethanol than denatured. The recommendation followed a 2017 derailment near Graettinger, Iowa. “It’s safer in the undenatured state,” Hall said. “You have environmental issues when you have a spill of denatured ethanol. The undenatured ethanol, from an environmental damage standpoint, is a much easier product to clean up. The cleanup is greatly simplified without the gasoline in it.” READ MORE
STB: Rail Energy Transportation Advisory Committee to meet May 15 (Ethanol Producer Magazine)