WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal inspection teams have been conducting spot safety checks of rail shipments of crude oil from the booming Bakken oil region in Great Plains states in response to last month’s rail disaster in Canada, U.S. officials said Thursday.The official name of the inspections is “Operation Classification,” although Cynthia Quarterman, head of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, said she prefers to call them the “Bakken Blitz.” They are being carried out jointly with the Federal Railroad Administration and began last weekend, although they weren’t publicly disclosed until Thursday.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=202695