Yesterday, OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs announced that it had approved a final rule from DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) on “Hazardous Materials: Suspension of HMR Amendments Authorizing Transportation of Liquefied Natural Gas by Rail”. This final rule was sent to OIRA for review on July 14th, 2023; a fairly rapid turnaround for OIRA.
According to the entry in the Spring 2023 Unified Agenda for this rulemaking:
“This rulemaking action would amend the Hazardous Materials Regulations to suspend authorization of liquefied natural gas (LNG) transportation by rail tank car pending completion of the companion rulemaking under RIN 2137-AF54 [link added], or June 30, 2024.”
We will probably see this final rule published in the Federal Register next week. That publication will not be the final word on LNG by rail. The notice of proposed rulemaking for the ‘other’ rulemaking has yet to be published, and the Republican energy advocates in the House will almost certainly introduce legislation to counter this rulemaking. This continuing controversy will ensure that few people will be interested in ordering the DOT-113C120W9 railcars necessary to transport LNG by rail under the existing rules that are being suspended by this rulemaking.
NOTE: This web site reports that Chart has constructed a single DOT-113C120W9 for testing purposes at the Transportation Technology Center, Inc.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment