Earthjustice challenges USDOT's denial of petition to ban older tank cars

On behalf of the Sierra Club and ForestEthics, Earthjustice on Tuesday filed a petition for review with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit challenging the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) denial in November of the groups’ petition for an immediate ban on older DOT-111 tank cars used to transport Bakken crude oil.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in 2012 called for an immediate ban on the tank cars because they are prone to punctures, spills and fires in the event of a train accident, Earthjustice officials said in a press release. Two in three tank cars used to transport crude in the United States are DOT-111 cars, yet the USDOT has taken no action beyond issuing a safety advisory urging shippers to use the safest tank cars in their fleets to the extent feasible, they said.

The legal action challenges the USDOT’s assertion that they have done enough to respond to the imminent hazards posed by oil trains, Earthjustice officials said. An environmental law organization, Earthjustice aims to protect people’s health, preserve habitats and wildlife, advance clean energy and combat climate change.

"Most of the explosive crude oil on U.S. rails is moving in tanker cars that are almost guaranteed to fail in an accident. The risks are too great to keep shipping explosive Bakken crude in defective DOT-111s," said Patti Goldman, Earthjustice's attorney. "The NTSB called them unsafe two decades ago, and by the USDOT’s own estimates, the U.S. could see 15 rail accidents every year involving these cars until we get them off the tracks."