The Trump administration on Monday moved to block a Washington state law that imposed safety restrictions on oil shipments by rail following a string of explosiveaccidents.

The Department of Transportation determined federal law preempts the Washington law adopted last year, which mandated crude from the oil fields of the Northern Plains have more of its volatile gases removed prior to being loaded onto railcars.

The volatility of oil trains drew widespread public attention following several explosive derailments, including one in 2013 in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, Canada, that killed 47 people. Washingtons law was aimed at boosting safety for schools and homes that are near passing oiltrains.

With backing by the rail and oil industries, the attorneys general for Montana and North Dakota had argued the law effectively banned crude from their states. In July, they petitioned the Trump administration to overrule thelaw.

Federal officials said Monday that the removal of volatile gases was not a statistically significant factor in the severity of oil traincrashes.

A state cannot use safety as a pretext for inhibiting market growth or instituting a de facto ban on crude oil by rail within its borders, wrote Paul Roberti, chief counsel of the Transportation Departments Pipeline and Hazardous Materials SafetyAdministration.

North Dakota is the nations No. 2 oil producer behind Texas and produced about 1.4 million barrels of oil daily in February, including about 300,000 barrels daily that was shipped by rail, according to the North Dakota Pipeline Authority. The February numbers are the latest available and came before sliding demand and the coronavirus led drillers to shut down more than 40% of theirwells.

Montana Attorney General Tim Fox said it was a victory for Montanans and the citizens of other oil-richstates.

He said Washington had illegally attempted to dictate what commodities other states can transport tomarket.

Washington state officials and environmentalists who sided with them in the dispute said the restrictions did not directly regulate crude and instead addressed only the loading and unloading of oil within Washington. They contended railroads still could carry crude into the state and the restrictions meant only that they would have to make sure it was safe totransport.

A spokesperson for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said state officials were disappointed with Mondays 74-pagedecision.

Washingtons law helps protect the public from the inherent risks of transporting oil by rail by decreasing explosion risk in the event of an oil train derailment, said Tara Lee, Inslees communications director. Public health remains our top priority and we are considering ouroptions.

An attorney with the environmental firm Earthjustice said the state had taken a modest step to reduce the risks of moving crude by rail and accused the Trump administration of stretching federal law to knock down theeffort.

In Trumps America, states are on their own to protect the health and safety of their citizens until it bumps against the wishes of the oil industry, said attorney JanHasselman.

The American Petroleum Institute, Association of American Railroads and other groups had urged the administration to block Washington stateslaw.

There is nothing unusual about the volatility of Bakken crude oil, said Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, which represents more than 500 companies working in the states oil patch. This is just one more decision verifying what weve known from Day1.

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Associated Press writer James MacPherson contributed from Bismarck,N.D.

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Washington's Oil Train Safety Law Overstepped Its Authority, Trump Administration Says - OPB News