(Source: DeSmog Blog, July 22, 2015)
NEW YORK — As documented on DeSmog, the new oil-by-rail regulations contain major concessions to the oil and rail industries as the result of relentless lobbying during the rulemaking process. One logical safety measure that the rail industry failed to block from the new rules was a requirement for modern braking systems know as electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes.
However, the rail industry has a Plan B to avoid modernizing their braking systems and so far it is working quite well.
In late June, the Republican-controlled Senate Commerce Committee approved a measure to drop the ECP braking requirement and instead order years of new research, a delay tactic favored by Warren Buffett’s Burlington Northern Sante Fe (BNSF) railroad.
Full story: DeSmog Blog