The railroad and chemical/fertilizer industries are sparring again over the transportation of toxic-by-inhalation (TIH) commodities such as anhydrous ammonia and chlorine.
Union Pacific Railroad (UP) recently issued a tariff for the movement of TIH commodities asking for shipper indemnification for railroad negligence, and on Feb. 18 filed a petition at the Surface Transportation Board (STB) requesting guidance on its common carrier obligation in cases where, according to UP, ample supplies of chlorine are available from much closer suppliers.
The Fertilizer Institute reported that ammonia shippers responded by expressing strong opposition to UP’s Tariff 6607, and were advised by the railroad that the tariff was issued for a particular chlorine movement and does not affect contracts under which ammonia is shipped. UP subsequently released a revised tariff on Feb. 12, but in a March 6 memo to TFI’s Board of Directors, TFI President Ford B. West said TFI remains staunchly opposed to the tariff and adamant that UP withdraw it. West said that after a careful review of the revised tariff, TFI believes it “shifts liability for a rail accident to shippers” of TIH materials.
West also sent a letter on March 6 to Diane Duren, vice president and general manager of chemicals for UP, expressing TFI’s continued opposition to Tariff 6607. West reminded Duren that the STB has yet to rule on a July 2008 request by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) to limit railroad liability for incidents involving TIH materials by requiring shippers to indemnify the railroads for their own negligence as a condition to their common carrier obligation.
“TFI and its ammonia shippers have offered the UP and the other Class I railroads a proposal to purchase secondary insurance to help address the rail industry’s concerns,” West said in the letter. “Instead of working with us, the UP supported the AAR’s proposal to the STB and, without clarification from the STB, you have now proceeded with Tariff 6607.”
“We understand that ammonia shipped on the UP is currently under contract,” West continued. “However, we have learned that some railroads are already requesting indemnification by TIH shippers for railroad negligence when contracts come up for renewal. Any railroad, including UP, could do so. If the shipper finds that request to be unacceptable, it would have to transport via tariff, in which case the UP Tariff 6607 would apply. TFI finds this unacceptable and believes this action shows UP’s intent to carry this matter far beyond a tariff that as you have claimed is currently applicable to only one UP customer.” West concluded the letter by urging UP to withdraw the tariff, and welcomed further discussions with the railroad.
The railroad industry has long argued that it wants out of its common carrier obligation to transport TIH commodities, claiming the revenues generated by such shipments are far outweighed by the risks (GM March 17, 2008). In a pointed exchange one year ago, AAR released a statement calling on chemical companies to stop manufacturing highly toxic chemicals and use safer alternatives instead. TFI took “vigorous exception” to the statement, claiming chemicals such as ammonia “are essential to growing food for millions of Americans.”
Recent cases often cited as evidence of the dangers posed by TIH shipments include a January 2002 Canadian Pacific Railway derailment and tank car rupture in Minot, N.D., that released an ammonia cloud that killed one local resident and sent others to the hospital (GM Jan. 21, 2002); a June 2004 chlorine tank car rupture in Macdona, Texas, that resulted from a collision between a UP train and a BNSF train, killing three and sending 43 to the hospital due to chlorine inhalation; and the January 2005 collision of two Norfolk Southern trains in Graniteville, S.C., which caused a tank car rupture and chlorine release that killed nine people and required some 250 people to be treated for chlorine exposure.
In its March 2008 response to AAR’s call for safer chemical alternatives, TFI noted that the National Transportation Safety Board had determined that both the Minot and Graniteville accidents were the result of railroad operational and infrastructure failures. “Perhaps the public would be served better if the railroads were required to ensure that they are doing everything possible to keep rail tank cars safely on the tracks,” West said at the time.