(October 22, 2012) Washington - The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway will co-host a free Ethanol Safety Seminar in Bessemer, AL on Monday, October 29th at the Lawson State Community College, Bessemer Campus in the Ethel Hall Center for Automotive Excellence. To accommodate all schedules, there will be a morning session from 9:00am-2:00pm and an evening session from 5:30pm-10:00pm. Lunch and dinner will be provided. While primarily targeting first responders, hazmat teams, safety managers, and local emergency planning committees, it is also open to the general public.

The goal of this seminar is for attendees to gain full ethanol emergency response training experience that they can put to use immediately in the field and pass along to other first response teams.  A majority of this training is based on the Complete Training Guide to Ethanol Emergency Response, a training package created by the Ethanol Emergency Response Coalition (EERC) that has been distributed throughout the United States and to several countries worldwide.

“Rail is one of the safest ways to transport hazardous materials, but we cannot take safety for granted,” said Patrick Brady, Assistant Director Hazardous Materials at BNSF Railway. “These Ethanol Safety Seminars are an outstanding way to prepare local, state and federal responders for hazmat emergencies and strengthen partnerships between the producer, the railroads and the communities.”

“Safety remains a priority in the ethanol industry. Educating and preparing those who may face an ethanol related emergency is important for their own safety and for the communities they protect,” said Kristy Moore, RFA VP of Technical Services. “We are thrilled to continue these partnerships with companies like BNSF so we are able to provide this valuable ethanol response information at no cost.”

The Ethanol Safety Seminar focuses on numerous important areas of ethanol safety including an introduction to ethanol and ethanol blended fuels, chemical and physical characteristics of ethanol and hydrocarbon fuels, transportation of ethanol blended fuels, storage and dispensing locations, firefighting foam principles and ethanol, ethanol blended fuel emergencies, and incidents at tank farm and bulk storage locations.  Certificates will be awarded from the Alabama Fire College at the completion of the course.

To register for this seminar, go to www.rfa.traincaster.com.

The RFA has been co-hosting Ethanol Safety Seminars throughout 2012 with Norfolk Southern, CN Railway, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF). Scheduled Ethanol Safety Seminar locations for the remainder of 2012 include: Fort Worth, TX on November 29th.

For more information on ethanol emergency response, visit the EERC website at www.EthanolResponse.com.