Railcar Regulation Sample Clauses

Railcar Regulation. We own and operate a number of railcar loading and unloading facilities in the United States and Canada. In connection with these rail terminals, we own and lease a significant number of railcars. Our railcar operations are subject to the regulatory jurisdiction of the Federal Railroad Administration of the DOT, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, as well as other federal and state regulatory agencies and Canadian regulatory agencies for operations in Canada. Railcar accidents involving trains carrying crude oil from North Dakota’s ▇▇▇▇▇▇ shale formation have led to increased regulatory scrutiny. PHMSA issued a safety advisory warning that ▇▇▇▇▇▇ crude may be more flammable than other grades of crude oil and reinforcing the requirement to properly test, characterize, classify, and where appropriate sufficiently degasify hazardous materials prior to and during transportation. PHMSA also initiated “Operation Classification”, a compliance initiative involving unannounced inspections and testing of crude oil samples to verify that offerors of the materials have properly classified, described and labeled the hazardous materials before transportation. In May 2015, PHMSA adopted a final rule that, among other things, imposes a new tank car design standard, a phase out by as early as January 2018 for older DOT-111 tank cars that are not retrofitted, and a classification and testing program for unrefined petroleum based products, including crude oil. We expect our railcar fleet to be in compliance with such requirements. The rule also includes new operational requirements such as speed restrictions. In December 2015, Congress passed the Fixing America’s Transportation (“FAST”) Act which was subsequently signed by the President. This legislation clarified the parameters around the timeline and requirements for railcars hauling crude oil in the United States. In December 2014, the North Dakota Industrial Commission adopted new standards to improve the safety of ▇▇▇▇▇▇ crude oil for transport. The new standard, Commission Order 25417, was effective April 1, 2015, and requires operators/producers to condition ▇▇▇▇▇▇ crude oil to certain vapor pressure