Franken wants more oversight of crude oil shipped by rail
April 6, 2014 By Melanie Sommer
In the wake of recent accidents involving trains carrying crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields, U.S. Sen. Al Franken is calling for more federal oversight of oil transport by rail.
Franken, D-Minnesota, and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., sent a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee which takes a lead role in writing the federal budget each year urging the creation of a Safe Transportation of Energy Products Fund.
The new program would look at ways to improve the safety of transporting crude oil by train and oil tankers, the Northland News Center reports. The fund would pay for more safety inspections, disaster response training, studies and community outreach, among other things.
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