Group sues over lack of info on shipping

An environmental group is suing the Federal Railroad Administration for failing to disclose the approval process for the Alaska Railroad’s application for rail shipments of liquefied natural gas.

Alaska Railroad would make the nation’s first rail shipments of LNG.

The Center for Biological Diversity filed the lawsuit Nov. 21 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

Miyoko Sakashita, a senior attorney for the organization, says in a news release that the federal agency has largely ignored a February public records request seeking records or information about the hazards of carrying LNG.

The Railroad Administration in October 2015 issued a two-year permit authorizing three round-trip trains between Anchorage and Fairbanks per week. The Alaska Railroad in September sent 40-foot LNG containers between the two cities as a demonstration.

- Associated Press