Law aims to limit railed Bakken volatility: UpdateOREANDA-NEWS. April 10, 2015. US representative James Garamendi (Democrat-California) has introduced a bill that would prohibit the transportation of Bakken crude by rail unless it has a Reid vapor pressure (RVP) of less than 9.5psi, far below the 13.7psi currently required by North Dakota regulators.

The 9.5psi is the maximum volatility allowed by Nymex for crude futures contracts. The bill is meant to "jumpstart this conversation before it's too late," Garamendi said in a statement. There are no federal limits on the volatility of railed crude.

Federal Railroad Administration acting administrator Sarah Feinberg was present at the press conference where Garamendi announced the bill. It is not clear whether the bill is supported by the FRA or Feinberg, who was recently criticized by the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) for saying that railroads had done all they could to respond to crude accidents. The FRA had no immediate comment.

"This legislation is unnecessary and serves only to deflect attention from the real issue that DOT and the FRA should address, which is track integrity," the AFPM said in a statement.

"Every day we delay the implementation of a stronger safety standard for the transport of Bakken crude oil-by-rail, lives and communities are at risk," Garamendi said.

Crude-by-rail has increasingly been in the crosshairs of environmental groups, regulators and lawmakers in the aftermath of several fiery derailments in the past two years, in particular a 2013 accident in Lac Megantic, Quebec, that killed 47 people. A total of 1mn b/d of crude was shipped by rail in the US in January, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).