BNSF says federal order won’t affect oil trains

BISMARCK, N.D. – The main railroad moving crude oil out of the rich Bakken formation in North Dakota and Montana said a new federal emergency order on rail shipments will not affect shipments.

The U.S. Department of Transportation on Wednesday required railroads to inform state emergency management officials about the movement of large shipments of crude oil. The agency also asked companies shipping oil from the Bakken region to stop using older-generation tank cars.

“We will comply with the new reporting requirements but do not anticipate they will impact our service,” BNSF Railway Co. said in a statement. “We will continue moving the freight that our customers demand.”

Public and political pressure to make oil trains safer began last summer when a runaway oil train carrying Bakken crude derailed and exploded in Lac-Megantic, Quebec. Other trains carrying Bakken crude have derailed and caught fire since then in Alabama, North Dakota, New Brunswick and Virginia.

Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, said Thursday that Bakken crude is being unfairly targeted by regulators.

“We’re still in kind of amazement that they singled out Bakken crude,” said Ness, whose group represents more than 500 companies in North Dakota and Montana. “We believe Bakken crude is a superior crude and can be shipped by rail just like ethanol, gasoline, diesel and other crude oils.”