Democracy Rules

Oil transport trains have been involved in several fiery accidents that were caused by excessive speed, driver error, poor track conditions and inadequately-constructed tank cars. Most of the tank cars on our rails today are older, general-purpose tankers known as DOT-111s, each with a capacity of 34,500 gallons. For over 25 years, the National Transportation Safety Board has warned these cars are inadequate for transporting volatile liquids such as ethanol and Bakken crude oil, saying its steel shell is too thin to withstand puncturing during derailments, and its valves are prone to breaking off during rollovers. Newer model tank cars that were supposed to be safer have failed in every major oil and ethanol train derailment they have been involved in to date.

In 2013, a runaway train carrying Bakken crude in DOT-111 cars derailed in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec igniting an inferno that destroyed the city’s downtown and killed 47 residents – a reminder of the risks this industry poses to the 25 million people living along the tracks these oil trains traverse. Due the decreasing price of crude oil caused by worldwide oversupply many railway oil tank cars filled with surplus volatile crude oil are now being stored on train tracks in rural areas for extended periods of time.

Pending Legislation: H.R.838 - Freight Rail Assistance and Investment to Launch Coronavirus-Era Activity and Recovery Act or Freight RAILCAR Act of 2023
Sponsor: Rep. Darrin LaHood (IL)
Status: House Committee on Ways & Means
Chairperson: Rep. Jason Smith (MO)

I oppose reforming current oil train safety policy and wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Speaker Mike Johnson (LA) .
I support providing a new tax credit through 2025 for 10% of freight railcar fleet modernization expenses (i.e., railcar replacement and modernization expenses for meeting fuel efficiency and performance standards) by: 1.) Providing that no more than 2,000 freight railcars per taxpayer may be taken into account for purposes of determining the credit in a taxable year. 2.) Requiring the Department of the Treasury to report to Congress on the credit to provide information on the number of times the credit was claimed and the number of railcars scrapped or built as a result of the credit. And wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Rep. Jason Smith (MO) and/or to an advocate group currently working with this issue.

Winning Option »» I support providing a new tax credit through 2025 for 10% of freight railcar fleet modernization expenses (i.e., railcar replacement and modernization expenses for meeting fuel efficiency and performance standards) by: 1.) Providing that no more than 2,000 freight railcars per taxpayer may be taken into account for purposes of determining the credit in a taxable year. 2.) Requiring the Department of the Treasury to report to Congress on the credit to provide information on the number of times the credit was claimed and the number of railcars scrapped or built as a result of the credit. And wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Rep. Jason Smith (MO) and/or to an advocate group currently working with this issue.