Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein penned a letter to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx this week urging the need for stricter oil tank car regulations, an issue some business have been pushing back against. Production from unconventional resource plays has overwhelmed existing oil transportation infrastructure – particularly pipelines – forcing producers to use railroads to get their product to market.

“With the average rail tank car holding around 700 barrels of crude oil, about 759,000 barrels of crude oil per day were moved by rail during the first seven months of 2014, equal to 8% of U.S. oil production,” according to the EIA.

Recent deadly accidents involving crude oil tank cars as well as the sheer increased volume of crude oil traveling through communities has prompted calls for tighter crude-by-rail regulation.

“Strong, definitive safety regulations are necessary to protect lives and ensure that the investments in railcars now underway are an effective use of resources,” Feinstein wrote in a letter to Foxx this week. “I encourage you to put in place the strongest possible safety protections.” – The Hill