September 29, 2014

The Honorable Anthony Foxx

Secretary By electronic filing to
U.S. Department of Transportation Federal eRulemaking Portal
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE
Washington, D.C. 20590



Re: Albany County Comments on NPRM and Request for an Emergency Order
Docket No. PHMSA 2012-0082 (HM-251)
RIN 2137-AE91
NRPM: Enhanced Tank Car Standards and Operational
Controls for High-Hazard Flammable Trains


Dear Secretary Foxx:

I commend the Department for recognizing that the recent, monumental increase in North
American rail transport of crude oil using deficient tank cars and operational controls
corresponds to a drastic increase in terrible accidents and greatly increased risks to life, property
and the environment, and for initiating the series of additional actions taken and proposed by the
Department, the Federal Railroad Administration, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration to reduce those accidents and their severity.

I believe the proposal for Enhanced Tank Car Standards and Operational Controls (the
NPRM) on which we are commenting today are an important step in strengthening the applicable
standards, but are insufficient to protect the population, property and natural resources of Albany
County.

As County Executive, I have responsibility for assuring that there are sufficient
protections and preparations to handle the risks and consequences of the crude oil expansion in
the County. We have already taken some actions, including:






DANIEL P. MCCOY
COUNTY EXECUTIVE
COUNTY OF ALBANY
OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE
112 STATE STREET, ROOM 900
ALBANY, NEW YORK 12207-2021
(518) 447-7040 - FAX (518) 447-5589
WWW.ALBANYCOUNTY.COM
PHILIP F. CALDERONE, ESQ.
DEPUTY COUNTY EXECUTIVE
A County Department of Health order (March, 2014) establishing a County-wide
moratorium on certain operations involving crude oil;

Appointment of experts to an advisory Committee on Crude Oil Safety to help the
County evaluate and participate in resolving the unprecedented issues posed by
transport, handling and storage of massive amounts of crude oil in the County;
and

Preparation of the Countys attached comments on the NRPM.

The Countys responsibilities to protect the Countys people, property and environment,
however, are not matched by the authority or resources to regulate the safe storage, handling and
transportation of crude oil and other hazardous materials in the County. In fact the Countys
authority is confined by federal pre-emption, mostly in favor of the authorities you administer.

Due to your own experience as an urban Mayor, I expect you already understand the
problem of having local responsibilities without adequate authority or resources.

By this letter, I request your personal attention and response to Albany Countys situation.
Specifically, I request that you recognize that the vast expansion of crude oil transport and
handling in Albany County - proximate to an urban core and housing and still subject to
inadequate standards - presents an imminent hazard that is particular and unique to the County
and that compels exercise of your emergency authorities.

We appreciate that the enhanced tank car standards and other improvements under
consideration may, in time, somewhat reduce the risks of accidents and adverse consequences in
Albany County. Yet finalizing, litigating, and fully implementing those improvements will take
at least several years, perhaps longer than the boom in crude oil by rail will last. Meanwhile the
risks faced by the County are real now, and extreme and increasing.

So we ask you to direct the Department and its pertinent agency heads to promptly
develop and issue an emergency order or orders to the railroads and shippers designed to assure
that adequate equipment, operational controls and response capacities are put into place in
Albany County immediately.

The attached comments provide detailed support and suggestions for the use of the
Departments emergency authorities.

Also, the risk of Bakken crude-by-rail would be much lower were the oil stabilized or
conditioned so as to reduce its flammability prior to interstate shipment by rail, as is regularly
done prior to shipment by pipeline. We also ask the Department promptly to evaluate and then
implement new requirements to assure that crude oil is transported by rail in less hazardous
forms.









Given that the City of Albany is the epicenter of the explosive growth of transporting
crude oil by rail; major petroleum storage, rail and port facilities, including the Northeasts
largest freight yard, are located immediately adjacent to downtown Albany and public housing.
And given that all of these facilities, including the shipping operations at the Port of Albany, are
slated for so much growth that Albany is under consideration to become a crude oil pricing hub
1
I
have asked the Mayor of Albany, the Honorable Kathy M. Sheehan to cosign this letter of
concern with me.


We look forward to hearing from you.


Very truly yours,

Daniel P. McCoy Kathy M. Sheehan
Albany County Executive Mayor, City of Albany

Cc: Secretary Foxx by mail
Gov. Cuomo
Sen. Gillibrand
Sen. Schumer
Rep. Tonko
Commissioner Joseph Martens


Attachment:

Comments of Albany County NY in response to NPRM entitled: Hazardous Materials:
Enhanced Tank Car Standards and Operational Controls for High-Hazard Flammable
Trains and Request of Albany County for Exercise of US DOT Emergency Authorities
Regarding Imminent Hazards of Crude Oil Transport in Albany County, September 30,
2014





1
Albany Nears Oil-Hub Status as 100-Car Trains Jam Port, www.bloomberg.com/news , July 24, 2014; Albany on
oils hub list, www.timesunion.com , April 8, 2014.