Each year, trains carry nearly 11 billion pounds of chemicals through South Dakota’s cities and countryside, much of it on century-old tracks, a South Dakota News Watch analysis has revealed.
Finding out which specific compounds are in those potentially toxic payloads is extremely difficult or even impossible for the public due to national security concerns and secrecy within railroad companies.
In many cases, state and local officials are kept largely in the dark about what materials are being carried through communities and rural areas. Oftentimes, the nature of materials transported becomes known only after an accident.
State and local governments can ask railroad companies for lists of hazardous materials transported through their jurisdictions only if the information would be used to help them prepare for emergencies, but not to inform the public, according to an email from the public affairs department at the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).
“Neither FRA nor any government agency can provide information that lists specific rail lines that hazardous material shipments traverse, as railroads consider such information to be proprietary, and doing so raises safety and security issues,” the office said. “In addition, as a federal safety regulator, FRA does not monitor train movements or types of cargo transported by private rail companies in real time.”
Concerns over the stability, security and safety of the U.S. railroad system took on greater significance after a catastrophic derailment and fire on Feb. 3 in East Palestine, Ohio.
The accident was caused by a worn-out wheel bearing on a tanker car, the same condition that prompted 17 freight cars to derail at 40 mph near Wessington, South Dakota, on Feb. 2, 2019, according to federal records.
The toxic chemical burned in the Ohio accident, vinyl chloride, which is used to make plastics, is part of the larger category of chemicals that can be carried by trains in South Dakota but which is not reported to the public.
Chemicals are 4th in South Dakota behind coal, ag, food
Some Great Plains states, such as Minnesota and Wyoming, report on the total tonnage of hazardous materials carried by rail in their states, but South Dakota does not.
The South Dakota State Rail Plan, a 182-page overview of the state railroad system, includes information on 15 categories of materials carried by rail but not on hazardous materials.
The report includes a final category listed as “all other commodities” that shows about 160 million pounds of materials carried, without providing specific or general product details.
In South Dakota, “chemicals or allied products” are the fourth most-carried product by railroads based on tonnage after coal, farm products and food products, according to the 2022 State Rail Plan, which was updated in December for the first time since 2014.
The rail plan shows data on the tonnage of products carried in 2019 and is based on federal Surface Transportation Board “waybill reports.” In South Dakota that year, the payload category of “crude petroleum, natural gas or gasoline” was next in tonnage after chemicals, totaling 7.3 billion pounds carried annually.
Payloads may be radioactive or used in chemical warfare
According to federal documents, the general payload category of “chemicals and allied products” can also include chemicals and products such as anhydrous ammonia, chlorine, human and animal medicines, pesticides, inks and dyes, and even radioactive compounds or those used in chemical warfare.
In an email response to questions, Jack Dokken, the air, rail and transit program manager for the South Dakota Department of Transportation, said the federal government is responsible for regulating rail shipments in South Dakota, but the state can respond to a release of hazardous materials. Dokken and other DOT officials did not respond to News Watch requests for an interview.
“The Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources can become involved if a hazmat release has occurred,” Dokken wrote. “DANR has authority to require the responsible party to perform cleanup and DANR reviews cleanup activity to ensure compliance with state laws and rules.”
Transportation officials from North Dakota and Wyoming told News Watch they have little knowledge about what chemicals and hazardous materials private railroad companies are carrying through their states.
“At a guess, petroleum, natural gas, and anhydrous ammonia are probably in our top three for hazmat, but after that it’s anyone’s guess – and I have no idea on volumes or routes being used,” said Stewart Milakovic, North Dakota DOT transportation planner.
The FRA said that in response to the Ohio accident, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called on railroad companies to be more proactive in letting states know when toxic materials are being transported in their area. Across the U.S., hazardous materials were the second-most commonly transported material by rail from 2019-21 based on tonnage, with 218 million tons carried in 2021 alone, according to the federal Surface Transportation Board.
“Secretary Buttigieg called on U.S. railroads to provide proactive advance notification to state emergency response teams when they are transporting hazardous gas tank cars through their states instead of expecting first responders to look up this information after an incident occurs,” the department wrote.
South Dakota News Watch has filed formal Freedom of Information Act requests to the South Dakota Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration seeking data on chemicals and hazardous materials carried in the state, but had not received a response as of March 21, 2023.
Source: dakotanewsnow.com
Categories: South Dakota, Business, Government & Policy, Rural Lifestyle