Railroads want to hand off some of anhydrous risk

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BY ART HOVEY / Lincoln Journal Star

When it comes to hauling anhydrous ammonia fertilizer, chlorine and other toxic inhalants, less is more, as far as railroads are concerned.

And none would be even better.

The liability risk that goes with cargo that is routinely hauled through Lincoln and other Nebraska towns is something prominent Nebraska rail carriers would rather do without.

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(LJS File)

(LJS File)

“We have virtually limitless liability if something does happen,” Tom White of the Association of American Railroads said Monday. “We have that concern.

“We also have a concern for communities that we go through, travel through,” White added, “in case an accident does happen.”

Railroads and other interested parties who testified at a July hearing are awaiting a decision on the matter from the federal government’s Surface Transportation Board.

White’s point seems to make perfect sense from a rail safety and public safety perspective.

Memories of a major anhydrous mishap at Minot, N.D., still loom large almost six years later.

In January 2002, an east-bound Canadian Pacific Railway train derailed five cars loaded with the popular nitrogen fertilizer a half mile west of town.

The tanks ruptured and the resulting vapor plume led to one fatality, 11 serious injuries, 322 minor injuries and the evacuation of more than 11,000 people.

But taking railroads out of this shipping picture would come at substantial cost to Nebraska’s agricultural and ag business sector.

Alice Licht of Lincoln, speaking for some 600 members of the Nebraska Agri-Business Association, wants to keep railroads in the picture for the delivery of anhydrous ammonia in 2009.

The state received almost 300,000 tons of anhydrous ammonia in 2007, according to the Nebraska Department of Agriculture. About 40 percent of that was by rail.

Licht was not willing to shed much light on what she described as “a confidential meeting process,” but the ultimate goal of fertilizer providers in national discussions with railroads is to keep anhydrous cars rolling.

She said using highways instead could put almost 9,000 more trucks in the traffic flow, just to serve the seasonal demand for corn planting and other crop needs in Nebraska.

As far as her group is concerned, the better solution might be for those on the receiving end of shipments to pick up part of the tab for liability insurance.

The issue has gathered a lot of momentum in the last 18 months, Licht said.

“Accidents involving anhydrous and chlorine — it’s not been the integrity of the railroad cars. It’s been human error on switching.”

White acknowledged that taking fertilizer tank cars out of the rail cargo mix may not be a practical solution. The same goes for chlorine, commonly used by municipalities to purify drinking water.

“The railroad is the safest way to ship the stuff,” he said. “And that’s why we again go back to the point that we should be looking at safer chemicals, developing safer chemicals.”

In the shorter term, “we could at least reduce the potential liability or share it among groups.”

He said trying to route toxic cargo around populated areas magnifies other safety issues. “Every time you use a less direct route, there’s more handling of cars, it requires that it be shifted from one train to another more frequently, it’s increasing the miles that you travel.”

Steve Forsberg, regional spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, declined to discuss how many anhydrous cars go through Lincoln behind its engines. He called it “a security issue.”

But Forsberg did note that toxic inhalants represent less than one-half of 1 percent of the total cargo hauled by the industry in the average year.

That measure of volume does not take away from the significance of that shipping category in Nebraska, Licht said.

“We are approaching it on two fronts,” she said: “Making an offer to railroads, as well as asking the Surface Transportation Board to ask (railroads) to continue as a common carrier obligation.”

A change in presidential administrations adds to the uncertainty about when the federal regulator might rule, although White said board members do not come and go as political appointees. They serve fixed terms.

Beyond that, “the fact is companies can choose to manufacture anhydrous ammonia or not,” he said. “Others can choose to buy it or not. The only ones along the whole line that have no choice in the matter are railroads.”

Reach Art Hovey at 473-7223 or at ahovey@journalstar.com.