LVXXU

Ethanol Transportation by Rail
Ethanol production in the United States has increased steadily over the last few decades, reaching a historically
high level in 2011. By 2012, ethanol displaced approximately 10 percent of U.S. gasoline demand by volume.
Ethanol production is primarily located in the Midwest where most of the corn feedstocks are grown. 48 Ethanol
blending into gasoline takes place at petroleum product distribution terminals across the country, so large
amounts of ethanol must be transported from production plants to the distribution terminals. These shipments
from production plants to distribution terminals typically occur by rail, which accounts for around 70 percent
of ethanol transport, 49 with the final product then delivered by truck to retail outlets.
Roads, rail, and waterborne infrastructures are used extensively for ethanol transport because fuel quality
specifications, ethanol’s water-absorbing properties, and the complications presented by multiple owners
of pipelines prevent the transport of ethanol in the same pipelines as petroleum products. Ethanol is likely
to rely on shared infrastructure for its transport for the foreseeable future. Attempts to construct dedicated
transportation infrastructure have not been successful—a $4-billion ethanol pipeline project from the Midwest
to the Northeast was explored by POET and Magellan Midstream Partners, but the project was abandoned in
2012 after it was determined to be economically infeasible.
Safety of Rail Transport of Liquid Fuels
Rail safety has become a key issue as rail transport of liquid fuels has grown. Several high-profile crude-byrail
accidents occurred since 2013, the most devastating of which killed 47 people in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec.
Others, such as those in Aliceville, Alabama; Casselton, North Dakota; Lynchburg, Virginia; and Mount
Carbon, West Virginia, resulted in significant environmental and property damage after tank cars derailed,
ruptured, and the oil caught fire. Similar accidents involving ethanol rail shipments have also raised concerns
about the safety of rail tank cars and the shipment of these flammable hazardous commodities across the
United States. These accidents have highlighted the need for additional monitoring, enforcement, and
inspection, as well as setting new safety design requirements for tank cars. 50
The rail transport infrastructure for liquid fuels also faces reliability and resilience challenges, which are
described in more detail in Chapter II (Increasing the Resilience, Reliability, Safety, and Asset Security of TS&D
Infrastructure).
QER Report: Energy Transmission, Storage, and Distribution Infrastructure | April 2015 5-11