From the Clean Air Council (http://www.cleanair.org/):
Clean Air Council is partnering with Delaware Riverkeeper Network and other allies to urge the Biden administration to STOP liquified natural gas (LNG) trains from transporting this dangerous and explosive liquified methane through the Philadelphia region.
Take action now at https://cleanaircouncil.salsalabs.org/lngbombtrains/index.html to urge the Biden administration to STOP this dangerous plan!
Companies New Fortress Energy and Delaware River Partners want to expand a terminal on the Delaware River to export LNG overseas. Last year, the Trump Administration granted a Special Permit for this dangerous cargo to travel by rail approximately 200 miles from Wyalusing, PA through a number of communities all the way to Gibbstown NJ, just across the river from Philadelphia. A liquefaction plant planned for Wyalusing, Bradford County would cool gas from fracking to convert it to LNG. The plan is to transport up to two 100-car trains daily to Gibbstown. From there, huge shipping vessels would transport it down the river, passing Delaware and New Jersey to go through the Delaware Bay to ports New Fortress proposed in Ireland, Puerto Rico, and beyond.
Until recently, transporting LNG by rail car was banned to protect public safety. The rail tank cars are substandard and have never been used to transport LNG. A release of LNG from a derailment or other incident in Philadelphia would impact all of the city with the most intense and inescapable harm in black and brown and low-income communities that border the tracks. This injustice cannot be tolerated.
There has been no environmental impact study of the LNG export project or the rail route. If there were to be a release of LNG, catastrophic impacts could include a fire that cannot be extinguished, a frigid vapor cloud that can kill instantly, and explosions that destroy everything in its path. If such a disaster were to happen, it is uncertain that New Fortress Energy would be held fully accountable for damages to life and property.
LNG projects such as the New Fortress Energy one will worsen the climate crisis. LNG is liquefied methane, which is a greenhouse gas 87 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in warming the atmosphere on a 20-year time scale, the period of time when scientists say we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions to address the climate crisis. Over the past decade, oil and gas infrastructure has been a major source of methane releases. To produce LNG, more gas wells would be fracked, polluting Pennsylvania communities, and methane will be leaked or vented at every stage. Preparing and transporting LNG also presents numerous opportunities to leak methane.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA),the agency that oversees pipeline safety in the United States, issued a federal rule on July 24, 2020, after it issued the Special Permit for transporting LNG from Wyalusing to Gibbstown. The federal rule authorized the bulk transportation of LNG by rail tank car for carriers nationwide. In June 2021, the Biden Administration listed two rulemaking actions in its upcoming regulatory agenda – one would suspend the Trump Administration’s federal rulemaking for the transport of LNG by rail and the other would propose a new rule addressing LNG by rail.
On November 8, 2021, the U.S. Department of Transportation filed its new rule suspending the 2019 Trump Administration rule that allowed shipments of LNG by rail. The new rule temporarily suspends rail transport for the highly flammable material, while the agency evaluates whether LNG by rail should be allowed in a separate rulemaking. The rule reversal will not, however, impact the special permit for the Wyalusing to Gibbstown rail transport acquired under the Trump administration. This new rule from the Biden Administration will not stop rail transport of LNG in the Philly region.
We urge the Biden Administration to officially rescind Trump’s federal rule to reinstate the ban on LNG transport by rail tank car and rescind the Special Permit for transporting LNG to the Gibbstown facility. All of our communities must be protected!
Leave a Reply