Administrative Appeal of the Final Rule: “Hazardous Materials: Enhanced Tank Car Standards and Operational Controls for High-Hazard Flammable Trains,” Docket No. PHMSA 2012-0082 (HM-251), 80 Fed. Reg. 26,644 (May 8, 2015)

Earthjustice and a coalition of local governments and environmental groups are appealing the 'Hazardous Materials: Enhanced Tank Car Standards and Operational Controls for High-Hazard Flammable Trains' final rule. They contend that the rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act by abandoning the notification requirements of the May 2014 Emergency Order without public comment. The appeal argues that the new system—which relies on rail routing analysis and voluntary industry practices—provides retrospective, aggregated data that is less useful to first responders than the weekly, county-level notifications previously required. Furthermore, the petitioners argue that the DOT is improperly restricting public access to train route information by treating it as sensitive security or confidential business information without a legal basis.

• The final Tank Car Rule is alleged to violate the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) because it abandoned the notification scheme proposed in the August 1, 2014 Proposed Rule without providing the public an opportunity to comment on that removal.
• The May 7, 2014 Emergency Order required railroads transporting 1 million gallons or more of Bakken crude oil to provide state emergency response centers (SERCs) with weekly estimates of trains per county, descriptions of the crude, rail routes, and emergency response information.
• The final Tank Car Rule replaces the Emergency Order's proactive notifications with a rail routing regime that provides retrospective, annual aggregate commodity data, which the petitioners argue is less useful for real-time emergency response.
• The new rule shifts the point of contact for information from SERCs, which coordinate with local responders, to State Fusion Centers, which are primarily designed for anti-terrorism and national security purposes.
• The appeal asserts that the DOT lacks a legal basis to classify train route and emergency response notifications as Sensitive Security Information (SSI) because the information was not developed through DOT security research and development programs.
• The petitioners argue that train route information does not qualify as confidential business information because it is easily observable by competitors and does not cause competitive harm.
• The DOT's justification for secrecy—citing a vandalism incident in South Dakota—is challenged as the affected track was reportedly inactive and not used for oil trains.
• The final rule relies on voluntary industry practices (AAR Circular OT-55-O) for providing commodity flow information to responders, which requires written requests and confidentiality agreements.

APA

Earthjustice (2015). Administrative Appeal of the Final Rule: “Hazardous Materials: Enhanced Tank Car Standards and Operational Controls for High-Hazard Flammable Trains,” Docket No. PHMSA 2012-0082 (HM-251), 80 Fed. Reg. 26,644 (May 8, 2015). https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/oil20tank20car20rule20administrative20appeal.pdf

Chicago

Earthjustice. Administrative Appeal of the Final Rule: “Hazardous Materials: Enhanced Tank Car Standards and Operational Controls for High-Hazard Flammable Trains,” Docket No. PHMSA 2012-0082 (HM-251), 80 Fed. Reg. 26,644 (May 8, 2015). 2015. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/oil20tank20car20rule20administrative20appeal.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Earthjustice |title=Administrative Appeal of the Final Rule: “Hazardous Materials: Enhanced Tank Car Standards and Operational Controls for High-Hazard Flammable Trains,” Docket No. PHMSA 2012-0082 (HM-251), 80 Fed. Reg. 26,644 (May 8, 2015) |date=4 June 2015 |url=https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/oil20tank20car20rule20administrative20appeal.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{earthjustice2015administrative, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{Administrative Appeal of the Final Rule: “Hazardous Materials: Enhanced Tank Car Standards and Operational Controls for High-Hazard Flammable Trains,” Docket No. PHMSA 2012-0082 (HM-251), 80 Fed. Reg. 26,644 (May 8, 2015)}}, publisher = {Earthjustice}, year = {2015}, month = jun, url = {https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/oil20tank20car20rule20administrative20appeal.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }