U.S. safety regulators urged companies shipping crude oil from North Dakota to stop using old tank cars that have been implicated in fiery accidents “to the extent possible.” The Transportation Department’s nonbinding safety advisory, which carries less weight than an emergency order, said shippers should use the sturdiest cars in their fleets to transport crude from the Bakken shale. The advisory applies to about 20,000 older tank cars most commonly used to transport oil from North Dakota, the Federal Railroad Administration said, or almost 60% of the total. The remaining cars are new or have been retrofitted to improve their performance in accidents. The call to get the older tanker cars off the rails drew immediate criticism. “Making it voluntary is not going far enough,” Sen. Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.) told Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing. Mr. Foxx assured her that […]