Energy and Environment

Senators call for action on oil train derailments

By Matthew Daly
Published January 9, 2014 11:27pm ET
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Senators call for action on oil train derailments
FILE - In this Dec. 30, 2013 file photo, a fireball goes up at the site of an oil train derailment in Casselton, N.D. The 911 dispatch recordings from the fiery derailment show initial confusion about the cargo on board. The recordings show that a member of the train crew first told emergency dispatchers in Fargo that it was hauling ethanol. The substance actually was highly flammable crude oil from western North Dakota. Eighteen cars on the 106-car oil train derailed and several exploded and burned. (AP Photo/Bruce Crummy, File) | Bruce Crummy

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairmen of the Senate Energy and Transportation committees on Thursday urged the Obama administration to take “prompt and decisive” action following a number of train derailments involving crude oil shipments, including a fiery explosion in North Dakota last month and an explosion that killed 47 people in Canada last year.

Sens. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called the recent derailments alarming and said the administration should evaluate whether federal rules adequately address the risks of carrying crude oil by rail.

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