April 2023
CC Tristan Brown, Deputy Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)
Dear Secretary Buttigieg,
In light of the disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, we encourage you to use your authority to improve rail safety rules, including braking systems and strengthening regulations on hazardous materials. We write to you now with growing concern that a Trump-era rule to fast-track the transportation of highly explosive liquefied natural gas (LNG) by rail remains in place, endangering our communities, water, and climate. The gas industry's plan to transport LNG -another gas product - could result in a catastrophic event. We urge you to immediately reverse that policy and enact regulations that permanently prohibit LNG by rail before more lives, lands and water is destroyed.
In April 2019, by executive order, Trump fast-tracked a rule permitting transportation of LNG by rail throughout the country. In July 2020, DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) finalized a rule authorizing rail transportation of bulk LNG without a special permit. Fourteen state attorneys general sued the Trump Administration to stop the rule given a lack of proper review and study, as well as serious public safety, health and environmental risks. We understand that the lawsuit is on hold given that DOT is reviewing the rulemaking, and now DOT has the opportunity to revoke the Trump-era rule and ban the transport of LNG by rail.
Transportation of LNG by rail poses a grave threat to the public health and safety of people living within miles of the rail lines. LNG is highly flammable and just 22 LNG rail cars have the same explosive power as the Hiroshima bomb. Seeing what happened in East Palestine, and knowing that there are over 1,700 train derailments per year, it’s horrifying to think what an LNG rail disaster would be like. LNG also poses significant climate impacts. LNG entails a massive greenhouse gas emissions footprint, and LNG infrastructure locks in long-term dependencies on fossil fuels instead of clean energy. The Trump Administration fast-tracked this decision to allow the gas industry to circumvent existing federal regulations for pipelines. Creating new pathways for LNG runs counter to the Biden Administration’s climate commitments and those of your Department of Transportation. It’s incompatible with policies necessary to meet the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 degrees Celsius target and avoid catastrophic climate impacts.
Most immediately, LNG by rail threatens communities in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as well as the Delaware River that serves as the source of drinking water for over 15 million people. The gas industry has proposed transporting fracked gas from northeast Pennsylvania to a proposed export facility in Gibbstown, NJ, a route that goes perilously near several densely populated Philadelphia neighborhoods and along the Delaware River. There is also a proposal to transport LNG by rail in Florida, endangering communities there.
We are counting on you to take action now to protect our communities, drinking water, air, and environment. In addition to strengthening the safety rules and braking systems on existing rail operations, reverse the reckless Trump-era LNG by rail rule and enact new regulations that permanently ban transport of LNG by rail. Doing so is absolutely critical to protect the public’s health and safety and avoid a catastrophic accident in the future.
Sincerely,
● 198 Methods; Drew Hudson
● 350 Eugene, Patricia Hine, President
● 350 Seattle; Emily Johnston
● 350 Brooklyn; Mimi Bluestone, Co-Leader
● Bucks Environmental Action; Sharon Furlong, Spokesperson
● CARS - Citizens Acting for Rail Safety, La Crosse; Maureen Freedland, County Board Supervisor
● Center for Oil and Gas Organizing; Tom Owens, Executive Director
● Citizens Acting for Rail Safety; Guy Wolf, Co-Founder
● Citizens United for Renewable
Energy (CURE); Georgina Shanley, Co-Founder
● Coalition Against the Rockaway Pipeline; Judith K. Canepa, Coordinator
● Coalition to Ban Unsafe Oil Trains; Paula Rogovin, Chairperson
● Delaware Riverkeeper Network; Tracy Carluccio, Deputy Director
● DNC Council on the Environment & Climate Crisis; Michelle Deatrick
● Don’t Gas the Meadowlands Coalition; Ken Dolsky, Co-Leader
● Earth Action; Mary Gutierrez, Director
● El Puente de Williamsburg, Federico Cintrón Moscoso
● Environmental Communion of the NJ Association UCC; Rev. Rusty Eidmann-Hicks, Chair
● Food & Water Watch; WenonahHauter, Executive Director
● For a Better Bayou; James Hiatt, Director
● Fossil Free Tompkins; Irene Weiser, Coordinator
● Frac Tracker Alliance; Shannon Smith, Executive Director
● Frack Action; Julia Walsh, Campaign Director
● Franklin Twp. JFK Democratic Club; Deana Luchs
● Franklin Twp. NJ Democratic Club; Robert A. Luchs
● FreshWater Accountability Project; Lea Harper
● Friends of San Juans; Shannon Davis, Interim Executive Director
● Grassroots Environmental Education; Patricia Wood, Executive Director
● Green Party of Nassau County; Joseph Nahan, Chairperson
● Green Latinos; Andrea Marpillero Colomina, Sustainable Communities Program Director
● Hudson 7 (Hudson River Drinking Water Intermunicipal Council); Mayor Gary Bassett, Chairperson
● Hudson County Group of NJ Sierra Club; Patricia Hillard, Chairperson
● Ironbound Community Corporation; Maria Lopez
● Keep It Wold; Barbara Jarmoska, Director
● Kingston Citizens; Rebecca Martin, Founder
● Long Island Progressive Coalition; Ryan Madden, Sustainability Organizer
● M-W * Associates; Darryl Malek-Wiley, CEO
● Milwaukee Riverkeeper; Cheryl Nenn
● Mobile Environmental Justice Action Coalition; Herbert A. Wagner
● MoveOn.org Hoboken; Elizabeth R. Ndoyle, Facilitator
● New York Climate Action Group
● NJ Chapter of Sierra Club; Patricia Hilliard, Chairperson
● NJ Sierra Club, Central Group; Joanne Pannone, Group Chair
● NJ State Senator Bob Smith
● North American Climate, Conservation and Environment(NACCE); Jerry Rivers
● North Jersey Sierra Group; Diane Scarangella, Chair
● North Jersey Pipeline Walkers; Diane Wexler, Co-Founder
● NYC Grassroots Alliance; Jill McManus, Event Coordinator
● Oil Change International; Allie Rosenbluth, U.S. Program Co-Manager
● One Pennsylvania; Steve Paul, Executive Director
● Orange RAPP; Sandra Kissam, Chair
● Pacific Environment; Antonio Santos, Federal Climate Policy Director
● Pennsylvania Interfaith Power & Light; Katie Ruth, Executive Director
● People for a Healthy Environment; Doug Couchon, President
● People's Organization for Progress; Lawrence Hamm, Chairman
● Philadelphia Solar Energy Association; Liz Robinson, Executive Director
● Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania; Tammy Murphy, Advocacy Director
● Pinelands Preservation Alliance; Heidi Yeh, Policy Director
● Plant Native Northwest Bronx; Ann Lane, Coordinating Committee
● Poughkeepsie Town Councilman Bill Carlos
● Progressive Democrats of America; Alan D. Minsky, Executive Director
● Protect Northern PA; Diana Dakey, Facilitator
● Puget Soundkeeper; Emily Gonzalez, Director of Law and Policy
● Raritan Riverkeeper; Bill Schultz
● Responsible Decarbonization Alliance; Robert Cross, PResident
● Riverkeeper, Inc.; Chase Lindemann, Legal Fellow
● Sierra Club, Patrick Grenter, Director of the Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign
● Shaleshock CNY; Sharon Osika-Michales, Core Member
3● SoCal 350 Climate Action; Jack Eidt, Co-Founder
● South Shore Audubon Society; Brien Weiner, President
● Stand.earth; Matt Krogh, Campaign Director
● Surfrider Foundation, Jersey Shore Chapter; Don Greenberg, Legislative Coordinator
● Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger
● Vote Solar; Elowyn Corby, Mid-Atlantic Regional Director
● Waterkeeper Alliance; Daniel E. Estrin, General Counsel and Advocacy Director
● Waterspirit; Rachel Dawn David
● WE ACT for Environmental Justice; Anastasia Gordon, Energy and Transportation Policy Manager
● We Stand United; Mark Ruffalo, Actor and Advocate
● We The People NJ-07; Pat Sodolak