Union Pacific has asked federal regulators to allow the railroad to refrain from transporting chlorine to some specific destinations because of safety concerns, the Salt Lake Tribune reported yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 16, 2008).
Utah-based chlorine producer U.S. Magnesium sought to use Union Pacific to move tanker cars by rail to four sites in Louisiana and Texas, but the railroad asked the Surface Transportation Board to be relieved from its "common carrier" requirement because the transfer would pose "remote, but deadly, risks" as the material passed through high-population cities such as Chicago, Houston and Kansas City.
Chlorine can be lethal if inhaled. It was used as a chemical warfare agent during World War I and employed in recent years by militants in Iraq (see GSN, July 7, 2007).
Union Pacific attorney Tonya Conley argued to the board that the four clients could obtain chlorine much closer to home. The magnesium producer insisted in its submission that it uses strong safety practices in shipping chlorine and needs to sell the chemical, a byproduct of its primary operation, in order to remain economically viable.
Roughly 100,000 tankers filled with chlorine and ammonia are placed on U.S. railways each year, said environmental consultant Fred Millar.
"The real problem is something that has worried the federal government since 9/11 and that is we're bringing through our major cities cargoes that the federal government calls weapons of mass destruction," he said (Judy Fahys, Salt Lake Tribune, March 24).