The nonprofit environmental law organization, “Earthjustice,” is fighting to stop a federal rule that would allow trains to travel the country with an unprecedented amount of explosive liquefied natural gas (LNG).
LNG is a natural gas that has been chilled to minus 260 degrees F, at which point it becomes a liquid. The liquid is pumped into specialized temporary cryogenic containers that keep it chilled and stable when stored or transported.
PHOTO: July 6, 2013
The crude-by-rail explosion in
Lac Mégantic, Quebec, killed 47 people.
LNG is regarded as a cleaner, more efficient fuel that is both environmentally friendly and widely available. The downside is what happens if an LNG container is punctured during shipment?
According to Earthjustice, “The liquefied natural gas from just one rail tank car — without even considering a whole train — could be enough to destroy a city.”
The federal effort to cut critical safeguards for liquefied natural gas started on April 10, 2019, when President Trump directed the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to initiate rulemaking to allow LNG transport by rail. The new guidelines are set to take effect today, August 24, 2020.
LNG IN FLORIDA
LNG is currently shipped on the rails in Florida. In 2018, Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) began transporting LNG for profit. In South Florida, that includes tracks from its affiliated Hialeah Rail Yard LNG supply terminal, in Medley, to PortMiami and to Port Everglades for commercial export.
Brightline Train, South Florida, 2019, Pre-Pandemic
Some of that track is also used by Brightline, the intercity passenger railroad operated by FEC subsidiary All Aboard Florida. (Brightline suspended service in mid-March 2020, following the Covid-19 pandemic.)
With the potential of both LNG and higher-speed passenger rail on the same rail line, Martin County Fire Rescue conducted a “vulnerability analysis” of FEC’s transportation of LNG in December 2015.
If an accident occurred at the intersection of tracks at Southeast Cove Road and Southeast Dixie Highway in Stuart, Fire Rescue Chief Dan Wouters concluded nearly 400 people would experience life-threatening injuries or death.
The Earthjustice legal challenge was filed in the U.S. District Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, on behalf of several environmental groups, including the Sierra Club.
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We will keep you posted on this case.