Government Security News

Transporting oil by
rail: Is this a risk to
national security?
By K Denise Rucker Krepp
24
When a train
carrying oil
has an accident,
the local
community
is the one
that suffers.
Residents are
forced to leave
their homes, sleep on gym floors,
and pray that their lives return
to normal. This suffering is increasing
significantly as more
and more trains derail around
the country. One way to stop
this suffering is to designate the
oil transported by rail as security
sensitive material. This designation
automatically imposes
greater safety and security measures
and increased government
oversight.
Designating oil transported
by rail as security sensitive material
doesn’t require Congressional
action. In 2007, Congress passed
the Implementing the Recommendations
of the 9/11 Commission
Act. Section 1551 requires
railroad carriers “to, no later than
90 days after the end of each calendar
year, compile security-sensitive
materials commodity data.
Such data must be collected by
route, line segment, or series of
line segments, as aggregated by
the railroad carrier. Within the
railroad carrier selected route,
the commodity data must identify
the geographic location of
the route and the total number of
shipments by the United Nations
identification number for the security-sensitive
materials.”
Section 1551 also requires
the railroad carriers to “provide a
written analysis of the safety and
security risks for the transportation
routes identified in the security-sensitive
materials commodity
data collected.” Additionally,
Section 1551 requires railroad
carriers to “identify practicable
alternative routes” and to examine
the “risk of a catastrophic release
from a shipment traveling
along the alternate route compared
to the primary route.”
Unfortunately, the Obama
Administration has not fully defined
security sensitive material.
Section 1501 of the 9/11 Act defines
it as “a material, or a group
or class of material, in a particular
amount and form that the
Secretary, in consultation with
the Secretary of Transportation,
determines, through a rulemaking
with opportunity for public
comment, poses a significant risk
to national security while being
transported in commerce due to
the potential use of the material
in an act of terrorism.”
It’s been 8 years and the U.S.
Department of Homeland Secu-