
Freightwaves reports that a federal court struck down a 2020 rule allowing LNG transportation by rail, ruling that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) failed to adequately assess safety risks. The court agreed with environmental groups and others, citing concerns over the potential dangers of transporting LNG. The rule had been suspended under the Biden administration, and PHMSA now faces further review. They write:
A federal court has struck down a Department of Transportation rule on transportation of liquefied natural gas enacted in 2020, saying the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration did not sufficiently consider the safety risks involved.
Specifically, the decision by a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia agreed with a group of state attorneys general, environmental groups, and the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, who challenged the rule on the grounds that the PHMSA was, “arbitrary and capricious,” in its decision not to require an environmental impact statement as part of the rulemaking process. The court therefore vacated the rule and sent it back to the agency for further proceedings.
Judge Florence Pan, author of the decision, noted that the rule set no limit on the number of LNG tank cars that could be included in a single train and set no speed limit for such trains, and that the PHMSA had said one company was considering LNG trains of up to 80 cars. […]
Reuters reports the PHMSA did not respond to requests for comments. Bradley Marshall attorney for Earthjustice, one of the environmental groups that had challenged the rule, said in a press release that the group is “pleased the court saw the danger this rule posed to our nation’s communities;” attorney Emily Jeffers of the Center for Biological Diversity said the rule, “was so obviously risk that it’s hard to believe it was ever proposed … There’s enormous potential for disaster in sending train cars loaded with explosive liquid natural gas through populated areas.”
Read more here.