A petition to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
The Natural Resources Portfolio of the LWVDE Advocacy Corps is asking for your support of a petition to stop LNG by rail permits. Scroll down near the bottom of this email for a link to sign LWV's copy of the petition, which originated with a network of groups (including the Delaware Riverkeepers) who are dedicated to stopping the rail transport of Liquefied Natural Gas. LWVDE wants to throw its weight behind this effort.
Signatures must be recorded or received by May 12, 2022.
Why is this important?
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a federal rule in July 2020 that lifted the long-standing ban on LNG transport by rail. The rule authorized the bulk transportation of LNG by rail tank car for carriers nationwide, following a 2019 executive order by then-President Trump directing the Department of Transportation to authorize the movement of LNG by rail car to boost the energy industry and LNG exports (the "Trump Rule").
The Biden Administration issued a proposed rule to suspend the Trump Rule (while they research safety issues) with a comment period that closed in December 2021. As of the date of this petition, PHMSA has not issued a decision on the suspension. It is time for PHMSA to adopt regulations ending the Trump Rule.
Prior to the Trump Rule, a Special Permit was issued for transport of LNG by rail car from Wyalusing, PA to Gibbstown, NJ for a proposed LNG export terminal on the Delaware River. The Special Permit expired November 30, 2021 and the request for renewal was sent two months later than required. PHMSA should deny the request for this Special Permit.
Transportation of LNG in rail cars is a reckless decision that exposes millions of people and vulnerable resources to the potentially catastrophic effects of a release of LNG. The Special Permit for the Gibbstown LNG export terminal proposed up to 100-car unit trains twice a-day through many communities of color and low-income populations already overburdened with environmental injustices.
LNG is liquefied methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas (GHG) 86 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in heating the atmosphere on a 20-year time scale and 104 times more powerful over a 10-year period, the periods of time when scientists say we must reduce GHG emissions to address the climate crisis. Methane leaks and/or is vented in all phases of LNG production, processing, storage, transport and use. The Biden administration has pledged to slash methane emissions. Putting LNG onto trains and making transport to ocean terminals cheaper will increase gas extraction and emissions.
PHMSA needs to adopt further rulemaking to permanently and categorically ban transport of LNG on our railways. This ban must prevent the approval of any and all LNG by rail Special Permits because they endanger our communities and the environment.
Signing the Petition
A petition has been created to allow citizens to express concern about this issue. If you wish to have your name added to this petition, please click this link and submit your signature:
If you prefer, you may simply send an email indicating your support for this petition to advocacylwvde [at] gmail.com with your name and the zipcode where you live. Either way, a list of supporters' names and area of residence will be forwarded to the organizers of the original petition. [Note: your email address will not be provided to them.]
The wording of the petition is as follows:
We, the undersigned, call upon President Biden and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to take decisive action to protect our communities. Our communities must not be exposed to the threat to their safety posed by LNG transportation by rail.
1. We call upon PHMSA to adopt the proposed rule suspending the previous federal administration’s federal rule that authorized LNG to be transported on the nation’s railways.
2. Deny a renewal request by Energy Transport Solutions for a permit to transport LNG from a planned LNG liquefaction plant in Wyalusing Township, PA to the Gibbstown Logistics Center in Gibbstown, NJ. The trains would cut through hundreds of communities, including densely populated areas such as Wilkes Barre, Reading, Allentown, and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania and Camden and other southern municipalities in New Jersey. The permit was never used and the renewal request was received at the last minute.
3. We call upon PHMSA and the Biden administration to permanently ban the transport of LNG on the nation’s railways, as was the status for decades, prior to the previous administration’s rulemaking to permit it and to deny approval for Special Permits before the ban is adopted.
|
