These trains are rolling right through your towns. Even Denton… The crude from shale formations is more explosive than regular crude. It might be all those highly flammable, explosive fracking chemical they pump into the formation. I’m betting that plays a roll.
Anyway, is your town prepared for a catastrophe from a bomb train? Do you live in the blast zone?
Crude oil rides Texas’ rails with little oversight
But in Texas, home of the country’s most prolific production, biggest proved oil reserves and most expansive refining capacity, crude oil rides the rails with little oversight. To fulfill the minimum requirements of a federal emergency order, state public safety officials have agreed to receive some information about potentially volatile crude arriving from a subterranean formation in North Dakota. They do not, however, assess the cargo originating in Texas, passing through from other places or moving toward the great global hub of Houston. They do not test its flammability. They do not, in any significant detail, track its quantities, movements or destinations.Now, as federal officials begin testing some wells in South Texas for the same explosive properties found in northern samples, some experts say the state may be taking a serious safety risk by turning a blind eye to the crude churning through its rapidly expanding rail networks.
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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Just one example of results from the “drill anywhere” mentality resulting from the FEDS.
Wouldn’t a pipeline be safer?
Not much value in reselling “explosive fracking chemicals”. I’m sure the company isn’t paying to ship these.
Oh Nick—–it’s cheaper to ship the “explosive fraking chemicals” since they are already contained in the produced crude. It’s cheaper for the Oil company to have the refinery remove the bad stuff rather than removing the “explosive fracking chemicals at the well sites!!!!!!!!!!!
Don’t you think ‘bomb train’ is a little over the top? Do you refer to your vehicle as a ‘bomb car’?
Do you live within the blast zone of a car accident?
No, not over the top.
I’m pretty sure no car has ever incinerated a town and over 40 people.
Those accidents are incredibly rare and there is considerable oversight to prevent such occurrences.
In the scope of dangers to the public, rail accidents fall near the very bottom. Focusing on ‘Bomb Trains’ is like focusing on the dangers of comets.
They’ve actually had quite a few of these rail cars explode, and, as the article points out, they are not regulated properly.
“Those accidents are incredibly rare and there is considerable oversight to prevent such occurrences.”
Yeah, the “considerable oversight” is staggering. Fortunately these weren’t bomb trains.
Sept. 26, 2014 – “CN is facing criticism from an Alberta mayor after two of its freight trains derailed in the province in less than 24 hours.
On Friday afternoon, a train derailed near Wildwood, Alta., about 120 kilometres east of Edmonton. CN said 15 cars carrying coal went off the tracks around 3:30 p.m. MT. On Thursday night, up to 20 CN train cars carrying peas derailed near Vermilion, Alta.
Yellowhead County Mayor Gerald Soroka is frustrated that CN did not quickly inform him about the derailment in Wildwood.
‘This is one of the things that we’ve had concerns with in the past dealing with CN,’ Soroka said, adding that sometimes it has taken as long as 12 hours before CN has been provided details about derailments.
‘We want to make sure our residents are safe and our first responders are safe,’ Soroka said. ‘Without CN communicating that to us, we have no idea the dangerous situation that [first responders] are going into.’
As of 6 p.m. on Friday night, Soroka still had not heard from CN. He found out about the derailment from a staff member who drove by the scene.”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/2-cn-trains-derail-in-alberta-within-24-hours-1.2779183
Actually, accident rates are lower than they’ve ever been. EVER.
And the Department of Transport is working on numerous measures to continue to improve rail safety. You might find this helpful:
https://www.fra.dot.gov/Elib/Details/L04936
How re-assuring that one of the bureaucracies is ‘working on numerous measures’. In the meantime, while they ‘work’ to improve safety, thousands of rail-cars, ill-designed for heavy tar sands oil, roll through towns and past schools. Just like fracking, they continue to ‘improve’ safety measures. Ever notice that these ‘improvements’ usually are the result of a disaster or series of violations? This is the part where I’m expecting you to say that we can either have gas and oil or we’re going to go back tot he horse and buggy, and my use of oil products makes me a hypocrite.
I don’t see a lot of helpful criticism there, but let me try to tackle your arguments nonetheless:
Progress takes time. Yes, it would be wonderful if rail transport was perfectly safe, but it’s not. But, it’s also improving. I don’t know what you want. No rail traffic unless there is no chance of an accident, ever? I think you can admit that that’s an unreasonable argument.
Certainly, improvement comes after the true nature of the danger is shown in an accident. Accidents show where the weaknesses are. They shouldn’t happen, but they do. And when they do, improvement is made. And even when there are no accidents, improvements continue to be made.
I don’t know what to say, but that those arguments are made because they are accurate. Whether you like it our not, oil and gas have improved the lives of people around the world immeasurably. And the the lives of North Americans are currently inextricably tied to the extraction of oil and gas. Maybe you are willing to live without these benefits, but you live in a society that has embraced them.
Yes, weaning ourselves off of oil and gas should be a long-term goal, but it won’t happen quickly unless we are willing to radically undercut our quality of life. And, frankly, yes, if you are a user of oil and gas who also speaks out against those products, that makes you a hypocrite by definition. Of course, I am not familiar with our stance and there is always a grey area. for instance, I support oil and gas exploration and exploitation with the understanding that it is not in the long-term interest of the earth to continue to use oil and gas forever. I just feel that the transition should be made in a way that respects the fact that replacement technologies are immature and expensive and need time and support (government funding, preferential treatment, etc) to develop into acceptable replacements for oil and gas.
Jason—you are just a typical O&G sponsored mouth piece. Jabber on and I won’t listen!
“Certainly, improvement comes after the true nature of the danger is shown in an accident. Accidents show where the weaknesses are. They shouldn’t happen, but they do. And when they do, improvement is made. And even when there are no accidents, improvements continue to be made.”
Unless of course those “improvements” threaten to cut into an industry’s bottom line, then it seems, it’s cheaper to lie about “the true nature of the danger,” deny the “weaknesses,” and fight off any “improvements.”
“Executives from the top oil companies in the Bakken Shale told state regulators that their crude is safe to transport by train, opposing possible requirements that they make the oil less volatile before shipping it.
The industry pushback comes as North Dakota considers new rules on treating crude to stabilize it, spurred by growing public concern about the safety of oil-laden trains crisscrossing the country. Several oil trains have derailed and produced fireballs since 2013.
… Industry officials are wary that any additional regulations in North Dakota could be emulated elsewhere, raising the cost of oil production throughout the country.
… Following a series of derailments and explosions of freight trains carrying Bakken oil over the past year, studies by the U.S. and Canadian governments have indicated that Bakken crude is more volatile than other grades of oil.
In response, the North Dakota Petroleum Council, a lobbying group for the energy industry, funded a study that concluded Bakken oil is no different than other types of light oil.”
http://online.wsj.com/articles/companies-in-bakken-shale-fight-limits-on-oil-trains-1411514351
LOL. That’s totally your prerogative!