Oklahoma Possibly Reversing Course Regarding Railroad Confidentiality Agreements

The state appears to be reversing course regarding confidentiality agreements with railroads.

6 Investigates told you Oklahoma officials signed confidentiality agreements with railroads to keep important information secret about potentially explosive crude oil shipments.

7/10/2014 Related Story: State Keeps Crude Oil Shipment Information From Public

The state said the information is sensitive and could pose a terror threat, but open records experts and some Tulsans who live near the tracks said keeping that information from the public is wrong and violated their rights.

As of Friday, we know state officials sent letters to the railroads, questioning the validity of those confidentiality agreements, stating, “details about rail shipments of volatile crude oil, including Bakken oil, are not security sensitive.”

They also advised the railroads about our media requests for the documents, saying they have concerns about the state's ability to continue complying with their agreements.