Bill Huston Podcast: 15 State AGs + NTSB oppose LNG by Rail

15 State AGs + NTSB oppose LNG by Rail

1: https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2020-01-14/15-states-oppose-trump-plan-to-allow-lng-shipments-by-rail

2: https://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/120760-ntsb-sounds-alarm-on-proposal-to-authorize-lng-by-rail-across-us

Read the NTSB comments here.

If you want to review the source documents, or the public comments received, here are the two dockets involved:

LNG by Rail Special Permit PHMSA-2019-0100
LNG by Rail NPRM PHMSA-2018-0025

My documents archive regarding LNG by Rail:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/43p75uuruxyi1gq/AACiG7k5X-uZcU-RLPIoqDqZa?dl=0

Jeff Zimmerman asked me to look into the existence of a NEPA Environmental Assessment (EA) for each one. (Note well: an EA is a fast-track. The more complete review is called an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)).

I only found an EA for the Special Permit:
https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/docs/safe-transportation-energy-products/72911/environmental-assessment.pdf

Notice the conclusion at the end: FONSI:

Finding of No Significant Impact.

Here's the interesting thing about NEPA.

I went through it all once (when I was doing a lot of pipeline stuff involving FERC)

and I read through the CEQ guidance and studied the flowcharts.

Notice that there SHOULD be a way to go from an EA to an EIS.

This is after you did your fast-track EA review, you discover that

there ARE "significant" potential impacts.

This is called a FOSI: Finding of Significant Impacts

...which triggers a full EIS.

What I found was (at least with FERC), that the agency apparently had reached

a decision about using an EA or an EIS *prior to scoping*. I could find no instance where an EA was turned into an EIS!

I also worked with Barbara Arrindell, and we determined that a 100x car "Unit Train" of LNG carries the same explosive potential as 5 Hiroshima Bombs.

Now keep this in mind, and know that in their EA for the Special Permit, PHMSA did not even examine the rail routes (for schools, day care, homes, shopping, nursing homes, critical infrastructure, etc).

5 Hiroshima Bombs worth of potentially explosive LNG travelling just 100'ft from homes and schools, and PHMSA says there is a FONSI: Finding of No Significant Impacts!!!