Gabby Brown, gabby.brown@sierraclub.org
Washington, DC -- Today, Donald Trump’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) unveiled a plan to allow liquefied fracked gas to be transported by rail.
The announcement follows a move by PHMSA last year to repeal a safety measure, issued in 2015 in response to a series of train derailments and explosions, that required upgrades to the brakes on rail cars carrying “high-hazard” materials like crude oil.
In response, Sierra Club Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign Director Kelly Martin released the following statement:
“Numerous deadly oil train accidents have made it abundantly clear that shipping dirty fuels by rail is a threat to public safety. Not only has the Trump administration attacked safety standards meant to protect us from these incidents, now they’re actively courting disaster by proposing to move even more explosive material through our communities. Even for an administration that has long made it clear that they want to pull out all the stops to prop up the fossil fuel industry, this proposal represents a shocking willingness to put workers and families at risk for the benefit of corporate polluters.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.