Heitkamp: Year after ND oil train accident, still more work to do

One year after an oil train derailed in a fiery crash near Casselton, N.D., the state’s Democratic senator says more needs to be done.

Since the Casselton derailment and a handful of other accidents put a spotlight on the safe transportation of crude oil, lawmakers have urged federal agencies and the railway industry to build up protections, and retrofit tankers carrying oil.

“In the wake of the train derailment in Casselton, the question on everyone’s mind was ‘what if?'” Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) said in a statement. “What if families had been hurt? What if homes had been damaged?”

The Department of Transportation unveiled strict rules for railway safety aimed at safeguarding shipments of crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken shale formation in July.

The proposed rule creates new braking and speed restrictions for trains, institutes a classification and testing program for fuels transported by rail, and phases out thousands of old tanker cars.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx called the proposal the beginning of a “new world order on how this stuff moves.”

But Heitkamp stressed while progress has been made, “there is still much work to do.”

“The most recent derailment near Casselton just last month reignited public focus on ramping up these public safety measures – because even though we’ve been lucky that both the derailments didn’t hurt anyone, we know we can’t rely on luck alone,” she said of Tuesday’s anniversary.