Exclusive: Permit Shows Bakken Shale Oil in Casselton Train Explosion Contained High Levels of Volatile Chemicals

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On January 2, the Pipeline andย Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a major safety alert, declaring oil obtained via hydraulic fracturing (โ€œfrackingโ€) in the Bakken Shale may be more chemically explosive than the agency or industry previously admittedย publicly.

This alert came three days after theย massive Casselton, ND explosion of a freight rail trainย owned byย Warren Buffett‘s Burlington Northern Santa Fe(BNSF)and was the first time the U.S. Department of Transportation agency ever made such a statement about Bakken crude. In July 2013, another freight train carrying Bakken crude exploded in Lac-Mรฉgantic, vaporizing and killing 47ย people.

Yet, an exclusiveย DeSmogBlog investigation reveals the company receiving that oil downstream from BNSF โ€” Marquis Missouri Terminal LLC,ย incorporated in April 2012ย byย Marquis Energyย โ€”ย already admitted as much in a September 2012 permit application to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Theย BNSF Directย โ€bomb trainโ€ that exploded in Casselton was destined for Marquis’ terminal inย Hayti, Missouri, according toย Reuters.ย Hayti is a city of 2,939ย located along the Mississippi River. From there, Marquis barges the oil southward along the Mississippi, where Plattsย reported the oil may eventually be refined in a Memphis, Tennessee-based Valero refinery.

According to Marquis’ website, itsย Hayti, Missouri terminal receives seven of BNSF Direct’s 118-unit cars per week, with an on-site holding terminal capacity of 550,000 barrels ofย oil.

Marquis was one of many companiesย in attendance at a major industry conference in Houston, Texas in February 2013, called โ€œUpgrading Crude By Rail Capacity.โ€ Its September 2012 Missouri DNR permit application lends additional insight into how and whyย BNSF‘s freight train erupted so intensely in Casselton.

โ€œSpecialย Conditionsโ€

Rather than a normal permit, Marquis was given a โ€œspecial conditionsโ€ permit because the Bakken oil it receives from BNSF contains high levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), the same threat PHMSA noted in its recent safetyย alert.

Among the most crucial of the special conditions: Marquis must flare off the VOCs before barging the oil down the Mississippi River. (Flaring is already a highly controversial practice in the Bakken Shale region, whereย gas is flared off at rates comparable to Nigeria.)ย 

It’s a tacit admission that the Bakken Shale oil aboard the exploded BNSF train in Casselton, ND is prone to such anย eruption.

โ€œHazardous Air Pollutant (HAP) emissions are expected from the proposed equipment,โ€ explains the Marquis permit. โ€œThere will be evaporative losses of Toluene, Xylene, Hexane, and Benzene from the crude oil handled by theย installation.โ€

Benzene is a carcinogen, while toluene,ย xyleneย and hexaneย are dangerous volatiles that can cause severe illnesses or even death at high levels of exposure.ย ย 

Scientificย Vindication

In a December 31ย Google Hangout conversation between actor Mark Ruffalo, founder ofย Water Defense,ย and the group’sย chiefย scientist Scott Smith, Mr. Smith discussed the oil samples he collected on a previous visit to North Dakota’s Bakken Shale.

โ€œWhat I know from the testing I’ve done on my own โ€”ย I went out to the Bakken oil fields and pumped oil from the wellย โ€” I know there are unprecedented levels of these explosive volatiles: benzene, toluene, xylene,โ€ said Smith.

โ€œAnd from the data that I’ve gotten from third parties and tested myself, 30 to 40 percent of what’s going into those rail cars are explosive volatiles, again that are not in typicalย oils.โ€

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Steve Horn is the owner of the consultancy Horn Communications & Research Services, which provides public relations, content writing, and investigative research work products to a wide range of nonprofit and for-profit clients across the world. He is an investigative reporter on the climate beat for over a decade and former Research Fellow for DeSmog.

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