For discussion and getting the word out, there’s a new facebook group, Dangerous Liquefied Natural Gas on Trains/Trucks.
In a March 3, 2016, letter, the Federal Railroad Administration warned Florida East Coast Railway of the danger of transporting Liquefied Natural Gas on the same tracks as high-speed passenger rail. What could go wrong? Do the math…. If an LNG container is breached, accidentally or intentionally, the liquid begins to warm, resulting in a Flammable Vapor-Cloud that can be blown around by the wind, igniting everything in its path. In Fernley, Nevada, the Flammable Vapor-Cloud fire from a tanker truck loaded with 10,000 gallons of LNG appeared to have been caused by static electricity. Flames shot 40 feet into the air and fire officials evacuated the area. The fire burned for a couple of days, before eventually burning itself out.
Photo: Howard Salmon, for Tahoe Daily Tribune, of Fernley, NV, LNG tanker truck fire, 2005-09-14
As that facebook group says, if you want to help stop fires like that from happening in Florida or Georgia, you can contribute to the WWALS legal fund for the pending case against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for shirking its inland LNG oversight duty.
Thanks to Gayle Ryan for setting up the facebook group and for agreeing to be its principal administrator. Thanks to Cecile Scofield for supplying much of the material and for instigating the creation of this facebook group.
The new facebook group is not directly a WWALS project, but we will be keeping an eye on it.
More about that Fernley, Nevada LNG fire: Josh Johnson, Tahoe Daily Tribune, 14 September 2005, Disaster averted in tanker fire near I-80,
FERNLEY — Hundreds were evacuated from homes and businesses here Wednesday and traffic was diverted throughout Churchill and Lyon counties after a tanker truck leaking pressurized liquid natural gas caught fire near Interstate 80.
The fire was contained and traffic patterns returned to normal by 4:30 p.m. No injuries were reported.
A 10,000-gallon tanker in the parking lot of the Truck Inn truck stop near I-80 sprang a leak about 7:30 a.m. when a valve broke off, according to Associated Press reports. A spark from an unknown source started the blaze about 11 a.m.
A hazardous material team was trying to fix the leak when the fire started, said Martin Jensen, interim Lyon County fire marshall.
Due to the tanker’s pressurized contents, the risk of a massive explosion and shockwave was present, forcing evacuations and response from across the region, Jensen said.
And still more links to information about that fire.
Could the same thing happen along I-75 or I-10 or I-95 on the way to Jacksonville, or on Florida’s Treasure Coast, or between Crystal River and the Port of Tampa, or on a tanker ship under the I-275 bridge next to St. Pete?
Map: by WWALS, from federal and state filings of LNG export operations.
Maybe you’d like to contribute to the WWALS legal fund.
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
Short Link: