Bakken oil may be more flammable than traditional forms of o

[dbackjon]

Following a string of explosive accidents, federal officials said Thursday that crude oil being shipped by rail from the Northern Plains across the U.S. and Canada may be more flammable than traditional forms of oil.

A safety alert issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation warns the public, emergency responders and shippers about the potential high volatility of crude from the Bakken oil shale patch. The massive oil reserve is fueling the surging industry in eastern Montana and western North Dakota, which is now the nation’s second-largest oil producer.


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[SDHornet]

Crude is flammable? In other news, water is wet...

[GannonFan]

It takes awhile to get through much of the scientific ignorance of that column, but later on, probably well past where post people would read, you get to the crux of everything:

Larry Bierlein, an attorney for the Association of Hazmat Shippers, questioned the importance of Thursday’s announcement given that oil is typically shipped in the same tank cars no matter its volatility. Flaws that render the most commonly used tank cars prone to rupture have been known for more than two decades.

Instead, Bierlein said, the public would be better served by the government adopting a long-delayed proposal to improve those cars, known as DOT-111s.

“They have lost track of where safety is,” he said of the Department of Transportation.

Sure, the flashpoint of sweet crude oil is going to be lower than that of thicker forms of crude oil, but let's be honest, any oil would've ignited in any of thse derailments. There's no DOT designation for "flammable" and then "really flammable". The bigger issues are just general safety of the rails - that crash in Canada happened because the operator of the train parked it at the top of a hill at night and then didn't leave enough brakes on when he went home. And the other issue is the quality of the tanker cars. We ship a lot of flammable stuff by rail, so the issue isn't to stop shipping flammable things, it's to make sure we can safely do so.

[SDHornet]

Yes but that common sense approach doesn't fit the "stop/ban anything that can cause harm" narrative that has seemed to enamor people for the last decade. Ranting about the laughable idea that one type of crude is “more flammable” than another wouldn’t provide the mouth breathers with their daily dose of “knowledge”.