9 replies to this topic

[CNJRoss]

NewsMiner.com, 2/2:
 

Natural gas could come to Fairbanks via railroad

 

JUNEAU — The Alaska Railroad is applying to become the nation’s first railroad system to ship natural gas by rail, a move that comes as the state looks for cheap ways to deliver the product to Fairbanks.

 

Alaska Railroad Corp. CEO Bill O’Leary told the Senate Finance Committee on Monday that the public corporation will apply this week with the Federal Railroad Administration to carry liquefied natural gas containers. 

 

The attention comes a week after the state announced plans to buy Fairbanks Natural Gas and parent company Pentex in a bid to bring an increased supply of gas from Cook Inlet to Fairbanks. Gov. Bill Walker said he’s targeting a low price for gas and will be looking to use the underutilized Alaska Railroad to achieve that goal.

 

Continue here.

[Sloan]

 

 

At a time when Alaska state officials are eager to provide low-cost fuel to the energy-hungry Fairbanks region, the Alaska Railroad Corp. is seeking to become the first U.S. company to ship liquefied natural gas by rail.

http://www.eenews.ne...ries/1060014956

[CNJRoss]

Fairbanks (AK) Daily News-Miner, 10/13:

 

Alaska Railroad OK’d for LNG transport

 

 

FAIRBANKS — The Alaska Railroad Corp. has become the first railroad in the nation with permission to transport liquefied natural gas by rail.

 

The state-owned corporation applied to the Federal Railroad Administration for approval to begin carrying liquefied natural gas containers last year and received official approval last week.

 

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to be provided to be able to move LNG,” Chief Operating Officer Doug Engebretson said. “Nowhere else in the United States is there another carrier that can move LNG by rail. You can move it by truck, but not by rail.”

 

 

Continue here.

[CNJRoss]

Alaska Dispatch News, Anchorage, AK 9/9/16:

Alaska Railroad to become first in U.S. to haul liquefied natural gas

 

 

This photo illustration shows a 40-foot cryogenic container that will carry liquefied natural gas at 260 degrees below zero — with an inner and outer steel tank like a thermos bottle. The container was photographed in Japan in August. (Shuji Manabe / Hitachi High-Tech AW Cryo)

 

Looking for new business opportunities to counter a drop in revenues, the Alaska Railroad Corp. this month will become the first railroad in the U.S. to ship liquefied natural gas, in a demonstration project that could help deliver cheaper energy to Fairbanks.

 

The state-owned railroad has signed an agreement to borrow two LNG containers from a company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, owned partly by Hitachi in Japan.

 

Continue here.

[CNJRoss]

AP via The Columbian, Vancouver, WA 9/21:

 

Railroad prepares 1st U.S. natural gas shipments

• 

  A 40-foot liquefied natural natural gas tank in Anchorage, Alaska, one of two that will carry the first U.S. shipment of LNG by rail. (Tim Sullivan/Alaska Railroad)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Alaska Railroad is making final preparations for the first U.S. rail shipments of liquefied natural gas, a fuel that could be used to alleviate pollution problems in the state’s second-largest city.

 

The railroad Tuesday will send two loaded 40-foot LNG containers from Anchorage to Fairbanks as part of a demonstration. Seven more round-trips over four weeks will follow, said Tim Sullivan, manager of external affairs.

 

“We’re going to take the information that we get in terms of our efficiencies, the logistics of moving this stuff, find out where we can improve, what we can improve, and the things we can’t improve, and start making decisions as to whether we can make this a line of business,” he said.

 

Continue here.

[CNJRoss]

News-Miner, Fairbanks, AK 9/25:
 

First responders along Alaska Railbelt examine LNG tanker

 

FAIRBANKS — On a drizzly morning Friday, a group of first responders, federal railway officials and Alaska Railroad employees gathered outside the Fairbanks train depot to get some hands-on time with the railway’s newest addition.

 

At the end of a long line of cars that included just about anything that the Alaska Railroad carries — passenger cars, box cars, a coal hopper, oil tankers and flatbeds — was a gray cylinder emblazoned with “LNG” in big red letters.

 

The 40-foot liquefied natural gas container is one of two on loan to the Alaska Railroad this fall for a demonstration project of the first-ever natural gas railway shipments in the country.

 

 

Continue here.

[CNJRoss]

Frontiersman, Wasilla, AK 9/25:
 

Shipping LNG by rail sets milestones

 

WASILLA — The Alaska Railroad will achieve two milestones this week as it works to complete a demonstration project aimed at transporting liquefied natural gas to the Interior.

 

Part of that testing will involve a longtime LNG facility at Point MacKenzie.

 

Later this week, the state-owned railroad will ship two specially-designed LNG containers by flatcar to Fairbanks, a first for the state as well as the nation, according to the railroad. The railroad received permission from the Federal Railroad Administration in October 2015 to haul LNG.

 

SNIP

 

Globally, LNG is considered safer to transport than crude oil, as the liquid evaporates quickly if spilled and is not as easily combustible.

 

Continue here.

[CNJRoss]

DeSmog blog, 10/14:
 

LNG-By-Rail Hits Tracks in Alaska: What Are the Risks and Why the Secrecy?

 

 

For the first time ever, liquefied natural gas (LNG) has been shipped by railroad in the U.S., prompting concerns about risks of accidents and a lack of state or federal regulation for the new and hazardous cargo.

 

The 40-foot long cryogenic tanks owned by the Japanese company Hitachi, built to be transported by rail, truck, and barge, will each carry more than 7,000 gallons of natural gas, which has been chilled down to negative 260 degrees Fahrenheit, from Anchorage to Fairbanks, Alaska. The company Alaska Railroad will do the carrying.

 

It's being closely watched by both the oil and gas and railroad industries, which say that shipping LNG by rail is cheaper and more efficient than hauling it by truck. Alaska Railroad points to Japan as a successful example of the robust transport of LNG-by-rail.

 

But it's also raised concerns among environmentalists, who argue that not only is the process potentially dangerous, but that it represents a further build-out of fossil fuel infrastructure as the climate crisis worsens.

 

Continue here.

[CNJRoss]

AP via KTVA-TV, Anchorage, AK 11/21:
 

Group sues over lack of info in Alaska Railroad LNG project

 

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – An environmental group is suing the Federal Railroad Administration for failing to disclose the approval process for the Alaska Railroad’s application for rail shipments of highly volatile liquefied natural gas.

 

Alaska Railroad would make the nation’s first rail shipments of LNG.

 

The Center for Biological Diversity filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. on Monday.

 

The Miyoko Sakashita, a senior attorney for the organization, says in a news release that the federal agency has largely ignored a February public records request seeking records or information about the hazards of carrying LNG.

 

Continue here.

[CNJRoss]

Center for Biological Diversity news release, 11/21:

 

Lawsuit Challenges Secrecy of First Liquefied Natural Gas by Rail Project in United States

 

Federal Railroad Administration Fails to Provide Documents
Showing Alaska Railroad LNG Shipments Are Safe

 

 

 

WASHINGTON— Before Alaska Railroad shipped liquefied natural gas (LNG) in September — the first rail shipment of LNG in U.S. history — the Federal Railroad Administration refused to publicly disclose documents showing how the shipments were approved and whether they are safe. The Center for Biological Diversity submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for those documents back in February and today sued the Administration for its failure to respond with relevant documents or information.

 

“The public deserves to know the risks of shipping LNG by rail through Alaska’s biggest cities and majestic wilderness. The federal government has an obligation to be transparent before approving or shipping a volatile fossil fuel,” said Miyoko Sakashita, a senior attorney at the Center. “We know that oil trains and LNG facilities both have deadly histories of explosions, so the secrecy surrounding this project should worry everyone.”

 

Shipping LNG by rail could expand the use of fossil fuels at a time when the United States is struggling to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to address climate change. Alaska is the first of several states to pursue such shipping, via its LNG-by-rail pilot program, which has been subjected to minimal public scrutiny. Orlando Sun-Sentinel columnist Michael Mayo reported in June that his request for public records about Florida’s LNG-by-rail proposal was denied on the grounds it was “propriety information.”

 

The Center submitted its FOIA request for records related to Alaska’s LNG-by-rail project on Feb. 9. Since then, the Railroad Administration has taken no responsive actions or provided any estimates on when it might rule on the records request. As reported by the Associated Press and other media outlets, two Sept. 7 LNG shipments from Anchorage to Fairbanks, using specially designed 7,000-gallon rail tankers that keep the condensed fuel chilled to minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit, were the first in a pilot program running through the end of 2017.

 

“Expanding the country’s fossil fuel infrastructure by putting LNG tankers on our railways is a terrible idea. It deepens our climate crisis and puts families along rail lines at risk,” Sakashita said. “But to do it under a veil of secrecy, denying the public’s right to scrutinize this plan, is simply unacceptable, so we’re asking the courts to intervene.”