Oil in Quebec train disaster more dangerous than classified
By ROB GILLIES Associated Press on Sep 12, 2013, at 2:32 AM Updated on 9/12/13 at 4:11 AM
A cameraman records footage of railway taken from the Lac-Megantic site to the Transportation Safety Board hangar in Ottawa on Wednesday. ADRIAN WYLD / The Canadian Press / AP
Energy
President Barack Obama's nominee to be the nation's top energy regulator came under sharp questioning Tuesday from lawmakers concerned that he may be opposed to coal and natural gas.
Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Doug Lawler acknowledged Tuesday what many employees have feared.
TORONTO - The oil carried by a freight train that derailed and exploded in Quebec this year had been misclassified as a less dangerous type of crude, Canadian officials said Wednesday, and they urged U.S. and Canadian regulators to ensure dangerous goods are accurately labeled.
Forty-seven people were killed in the July disaster when the unattended train rolled away and derailed in the town of Lac-Megantic near the Maine border and several of its oil cars exploded. The downtown was destroyed.
The train's shipment of North Dakota oil was mislabeled as a "Group 3" flammable liquid, when it should have been given a more explosive "Group 2" classification, the Canadian transportation safety board's chief investigator, Donald Ross, said.
Asked if proper labeling would have changed what happened, Ross said the work of the board is not done.
Officials initially said they were surprised by the disaster because they thought the oil being transported was unlikely to ignite.
But Ross said the oil was as volatile as gasoline, and tests showed the oil was wrongly documented and should have been classed in the same category as gasoline.
Safety regulations for the transport of crude oil differ depending upon the type of oil and its flashpoint - the lowest temperature at which it will ignite.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada issued safety advisory letters to the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and to Transport Canada.
U.S. inspection teams have been conducting spot safety checks of rail shipments of crude from the booming Bakken oil region since the disaster. The Bakken region underlies portions of Montana and North Dakota in the U.S., and Saskatchewan and Manitoba in Canada.
The disaster raised questions about the increasing transport of oil by rail in the U.S. and Canada.
Original Print Headline: Quebec train oil mislabeled
Energy
President Barack Obama's nominee to be the nation's top energy regulator came under sharp questioning Tuesday from lawmakers concerned that he may be opposed to coal and natural gas.
Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Doug Lawler acknowledged Tuesday what many employees have feared.
