Ohio train accident sparks gas-by-rail fears

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Feb 28, 2023 View in browser   By Arianna Skibell Presented by A plume rises from a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, Feb. 4, 2023. | Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo The toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, is reviving a debate about whether natural gas should be transported by rail. While trains aren’t yet carrying large-scale shipments of liquefied natural gas in the United States, the Trump administration authorized the practice and the Biden administration is now weighing whether to permanently revoke that decision, writes POLITICO’s E&E News reporter Shelby Webb. Natural gas companies say rail could open up transportation options for states that have been reluctant to build new natural gas pipelines, like New York and Pennsylvania. But a group of Democratic lawmakers is urging the administration to permanently suspend the authorization in light of the Norfolk Southern train derailment, which spewed hazardous chemicals, including vinyl chloride, into the Ohio-Pennsylvania border town earlier this month. The accident prompted the evacuation of thousands of residents, compromised the town’s air and water quality, and killed thousands of fish and birds. Liquefied natural gas, meanwhile, is both highly combustible and cold. Unintended spills could cause fires that are hard to extinguish while releasing methane into the atmosphere, among other risks. Democrats from the Pennsylvania congressional delegation sent a letter on Friday to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg asking him to permanently revoke the gas-by-rail rule that former President Donald Trump finalized in 2020. President Joe Biden hit the pause button on that decision shortly after his inauguration, suspending it until at least 2024 as the administration further studies the safety risks. Advocates of the authorization, including House Republicans, say LNG-by-rail is perfectly safe. They say the Trump-era plan would require train cars to have a thicker layer of outer steel to prevent damage in the event of a derailment. But past derailments of fossil fuels have proved devastating. In 2013, an unattended parked train in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, rolled to the town’s core and derailed, spilling 2 million gallons of crude oil that caught fire and exploded. Forty-seven people died, and the town was all but leveled. Bradley Marshall, a senior attorney for Earthjustice who led a legal battle against the Trump rule, said even a small amount of spilt natural gas “can prove pretty catastrophic.” “It could get into a storm water sewer and still have enough concentration to ignite and destroy [a] good chunk of area with it,” he told Shelby.   It's Tuesday— thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@eenews.net. A message from bp: bp is one of America’s leading energy investors — with over $130 billion invested here since 2005. We’re working to deliver the energy America needs today, while developing lower carbon alternatives. See how we are advocating for good policy to help us go further, faster.   Listen to today’s POLITICO Energy podcast Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Kelsey Tamborrino explains why a new low-income tax credit program is dividing the solar sector. Fact check: Oh, so false Jeffrey Clark, former assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, speaks during a news conference. | AP Photo/Susan Walsh The lead environmental attorney for former President Donald Trump falsely claimed that climate change policy is part of a larger plot to “meta control” Americans, writes Scott Waldman. Jeffrey Clark, Trump’s assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, spoke Saturday in Florida at a conference organized by the Heartland Institute, which has spent years attacking climate science. Clark compared the Biden administration and climate advocates to the authoritarian pig characters in George Orwell’s dystopian novel “Animal Farm.” He said the climate movement’s “foot soldiers,” such as “soccer moms” and recent college students, had been manipulated to believe climate scientists.   A message from bp:   Power Centers The U.S. Supreme Court. | Francis Chung/POLITICO SCOTUS returns to 'major questions' Supreme Court justices suggested on Tuesday that the Biden administration’s plan to forgive some federal student loan debt could be a violation of a newly articulated legal doctrine that ended the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, writes Pamela King. During oral arguments in Biden v. Nebraska, many of the court’s conservative justices said that the Department of Education program might be a “major question” that Congress must clearly authorize. That could spell trouble for the administration's future effort to achieve its climate and energy goals through executive action. Pressure campaign Republican operatives are launching a multimillion-dollar campaign to pressure swing-state lawmakers to ease the approval of energy projects such as pipelines and power lines — with a special focus on squeezing vulnerable Senate Democrats, writes Zack Colman. Leaders of the new effort include allies of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence, two potential GOP contenders in next year’s presidential race, as well as a former top aide to Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. While we're at it ... Republicans are also mounting a push to challenge multiple Biden environmental regulations, write Emma Dumain, Jeremy Dillon and Kelsey Brugger. The plan is to deploy a congressional tool that eliminates recently finalized rules, which requires only simple majorities in both chambers, and lure a growing list of vulnerable Democrats to join them. In Other News Justice40: Why the White House’s environmental justice tool is still disappointing advocates. Stove wars: At the end of a study that gave people induction stoves to try, not a single person wanted their gas stove back.   DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID.     Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. Two electric cars charge at a public charge station in Germany. | Sean Gallup/Getty Images The increasing popularity of electric SUVs, and the large batteries that power them, is putting pressure on battery supply chains and boosting demand for critical minerals. Republican Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves is proposing legislation to overhaul the rules for environment reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act for energy infrastructure. A panel of climate experts convened by the United Nations is calling for international regulations for solar geoengineering. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.   A message from bp: We are proud of our 150-year history in the United States, and we’re committed to America for the long-term as we transform our company in line with our ambition to reach net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner, and help the world get there too. bp is a top energy investor in the US: · Over $130 billion invested here since 2005 · 245,000 jobs supported across the country · $60 billion added by our businesses to the national economy in 2021 · Over $100 million donated to community programs over the past five years · Working to deliver the energy America needs today while developing lower carbon alternatives See how we are advocating for good policy to help us go further, faster.     LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. 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