On September 9, 2014, the House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittees on Energy and Oversight held a joint hearing entitled Bakken Petroleum: The Substance of Energy Independence. The hearing examined the characteristics and behavior of crude oil produced from the Bakken region in North Dakota, Montana, and Canada pursuant to a report titled, “Operation Safe Delivery Update” released by the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) in July 2014. A webcast of the hearing, witness testimony, and member statements are available online.

Testifying at the hearing were:

·         Timothy Butters, Deputy Administrator, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation;

·         Chris Smith, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Fossil Energy, U.S. Department of Energy;

·         Kari Cutting, Vice President, North Dakota Petroleum Council;

·         John Auers, Executive Vice President, Turner, Mason & Company; and

·         Mark Zoanetti, Deputy Chief, Special Operations, Syracuse Fire Department.

Based upon comments made by DOT and DOE officials at the hearing, we can anticipate additional characterization efforts for Bakken crude oil. Butters stated that PHMSA will continue sampling Bakken crude oil through the end of 2014, and perhaps into 2015. Smith said the Energy Department is considering additional research on crude oil as well.

Due to increased production, insufficient pipeline capacity, and challenges associated with siting new pipelines, a substantial amount of the petroleum produced in the Bakken region is shipped by rail. In light of recent derailments, including accidents in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, and Casselton, North Dakota, Bakken petroleum shipped by rail has drawn increased scrutiny. In January 2014, PHMSA released a safety alert as part of its “Operation Classification,” an initiative dating back to March 2013 following derailments in the United States and Canada that focuses on how shippers classify petroleum products originating in the Bakken region. The PHMSA alert concluded that Bakken petroleum “may be more flammable than traditional heavy crude oil.” The PHMSA alert emphasized that offerors of hazardous materials must properly classify and describe hazardous materials before they may be transported, stressing the importance of appropriate packing group (PG) assignment of crude oil shipments. The alert also advised that “emergency responders should remember that light sweet crude oil, such as that coming from the Bakken region, is typically assigned a packing group I or II… this means the materials pose significant fire risk if released from the package in an accident.” In July 2014, PHMSA released a report titled, “Operation Safe Delivery Update” which concluded that “after months of unannounced inspections, testing, and analysis, Operation Classification has determined that the current classification applied to Bakken crude is accurate under the current classification system, but that the crude has a higher gas content, higher vapor pressure, lower flash point and boiling point and thus a higher degree of volatility than most other crudes in the U.S., which correlates to increased ignitability and flammability.”