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Oil Trains at Junction in North Dakota

Fracking Companies Await Regulator’s Decision on Stabilizing Crude Before Shipment

By Chester Dawson
@DeleverTheFirm

Updated Dec. 7, 2014 8:17 p.m. ET

Energy producers in North Dakota are expected to face new regulations soon on treating their crude oil if the state’s chief energy regulator follows through this week on promised standards aimed at ensuring that Bakken Shale crude oil can be more safely shipped by rail.

The North Dakota Industrial Commission will meet on Tuesday {December 9} to complete steps it proposed last month that would require oil companies as of Feb. 1 next year {2015} to start removing volatile gaseous compounds before shipping their crude on railroads crisscrossing the country.

The commission’s decision will be closely watched because critics say the proposals don’t go far enough while the oil industry has complained they go too far. North Dakota has felt pressure to act amid growing concern nationwide that Bakken crude poses a higher threat in a derailment or other accident.
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Some activists in North Dakota and a growing chorus of leaders in local municipalities and other states have raised questions about the safety of Bakken crude-by-rail shipments in the wake of a series of fiery train explosions, including one in July 2013 that killed 47 people in a Quebec town.