PHMSA Considers Special Permit for Rail Shipment of Cryogenic Ethane

The DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published a notice in today’s Federal Register (87 FR 74468-74469) for “Hazardous Materials: Notice of Application for Special Permit”. The Special Permit has been requested by Gas Innovations LNG Refrigerants Inc to authorize the transportation in commerce of cryogenic ethane in DOT-113C120W9 and DOT-113C120W tank cars via rail freight. These are the same railcars currently authorized for use with cryogenic ethylene.

The special permit application (21283-N) was first announced by PHMSA on September 9^th, 2021 with a comment closing date of October 12^th, 2021. PHMSA is now asking for public comments on the application because it “raises issues similar to the transportation of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) by rail, a matter for which multiple rulemakings are currently pending at the agency.”

Comments may be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.Regulations.gov; Docket # PHMSA-2022-0081) comments should be submitted by January 4^th, 2022. I suspect that there may be requests to extend that deadline because of the holidays.