Monthly Archives: June 2016

Crude By Rail, High Hazard Flammable Trains (HHFTs), Placard, Tank car identification

High Hazardous Flammable train placards to watch for

By Roger Straw, June 21, 2016

High Hazardous Flammable train placards to watch for

Following the latest derailment in Mosier OR, I became even more curious to know exactly what hazardous material is in a passing oil train or truck.  Taken from my LINKS page, here’s a brief summary of the most common placards:

Images

Crude oil carries the number 1267 on the placard, and ethanol can be 1203, 3475, 1987 or 1170, depending whether it is mixed with gasoline and it’s purity.

Crude oil:

Placard 1267 Crude Oil

Downloads

Here’s a  downloadable card you can print and carry with you (and a larger version of the card).

For a COMPLETE LISTING of placard identification symbols and numbers, see the 2016 DOT Emergency Response Guidebook. (be patient – 4.8MB, large download)

Ethanol:

Placards 1203, 3475, 1987, 1170 - Ethanol

Placard 1203 – Basically gasoline, a blended fuel with up to 10% ethanol.
Placard 3475 – blended fuel with 11% to 94% ethanol.
Placard 1987 – Denatured fuel ethanol, 95% to 99% ethanol .
Placard 1170 – Neat ethanol, 100%.

Bakken Crude, Crude By Rail, Federal Regulation (U.S.), Local Regulation, Surface Transportation Board, Union Pacific Railroad, Valero Benicia Refinery, Valero Crude By Rail

Union Pacific sends letter to Surface Transportation Board in support of Valero

By Roger Straw, June 17, 2016

Union Pacific letter to the Surface Transportation Board in support of Valero Benicia Refinery

Related imageOn June 17, Union Pacific Railroad (UP) sent a letter to the Surface Transportation Board ” in support of the request of Valero Refining Company…for the Board to institute a declaratory order proceeding.”

UP is the railroad that would carry dangerous and dirty North American crude by rail through California’s mountain ranges, wildlands, towns and cities to Valero Refinery in Benicia, if Benicia’s City Council gives approval in September. Local observers here in Benicia have seen UP upgrading its infrastructure at great expense in anticipation of a Valero permitting success.

The UP letter is plain in its financial motivation, and says nothing about the health and safety of the earth or its inhabitants. The railroad asks for a free hand in all operations, direct or indirect, involving rail transport of hazardous materials.

Derailment, Freight trains, Hazardous freight

LATEST DERAILMENT: Baltimore MD hazardous materials train, no spill, no explosion

Repost from the Baltimore Sun

Work begins to clear derailed Howard Tunnel train; expected to take more than 24 hours

BSun_video_2016-06-13By Colin Campbell & Michael Dresser, June 13, 2016, 8:00PM EDT

CSX crews began uncoupling and removing train cars Monday evening from the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore, starting the process of clearing a derailment that shut down freight traffic through the city earlier in the day.

The Cumberland-bound train was carrying a volatile, flammable chemical when 13 cars went off the rails Monday morning, but authorities said there were no reports of leaks or injuries.

Work to clear the tunnel was expected to take more than 24 hours.

“This is going to be a long operation,” said Bob Maloney, the city’s emergency management director. “The Fire Department identified there was not an immediate threat to the public. We still consider that to be the case. We’re prepared if that changes.”

The 124-car train went off the rails near the tunnel’s north entrance at the Mount Royal Station in Bolton Hill about 5:45 a.m. Monday, authorities said. But they waited until after the evening rush hour to begin clearing the tracks.

In the event of a chemical spill during the clearing of the derailed cars, authorities said, the Fire Department would use a reverse 911 system to tell residents who live within a quarter-mile radius of the incident to shelter in place, officials said.

“Our meters show there’s no immediate danger,” Assistant Fire Chief Mark Wagner said.

Authorites are investigating the cause of the derailment. It started about one-third of the way through the train at car 47, one of the 18 that were carrying loads, authorities said.

The front of the train had entered the tunnel when the cars derailed just north of the tunnel, Maloney said. The derailed cars continued into the tunnel, where they stopped, he said.

The Philadelphia-to-Cumberland run “is a regular, routine route for this train,” said Brian Hammock, resident vice president of CSX.

Hammock said he did not know when the tunnel was last inspected. He said CSX has full confidence in all of its tracks throughout the city.

A day after the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history Sunday at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Wagner called the FBI to help investigate the derailment. “With everything going on, especially in Orlando, I asked the FBI to be here because we want to rule out foul play,” Wagner said.

Investigators determined it was not caused intentionally.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said his department, too, was assisting. “We want to be on the ground at the very, very beginning in case a twist or turn occurs,” Davis said. “Twists and turns have not occurred, but we’re nonetheless involved right now in this critical incident.”

Several roads were closed near the tunnel Monday. They included a stretch of Howard Street between North Avenue and John Street.

The Maryland Transit Administration announced it was suspending light rail service between the Camden Yards and North Avenue stations after 10 p.m. Monday, and would use buses to ferry passengers between the two stops until midnight.

Freight rail traffic was stopped in the area Monday. The line running through the tunnel is used only by CSX freight trains; Amtrak and MARC service was not affected.

The Howard Street Tunnel is considered to be the most troublesome bottleneck for north-south freight train traffic on the East Coast.

For many years, transportation planners have discussed replacing the tunnel, but the estimated cost — $1 billion to $3 billion — has stymied progress.

In April, the Hogan administration and CSX announced a stripped-down, $425 million plan to expand the tunnel so that double-stacked trains could pass through.The state and the railroad pledged to kick in $270 million for the project and applied for a $155 million federal grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s FASTLANE program.

Matthew A. Clark, a spokesman for Gov. Larry Hogan, said the state is waiting for a decision on its application. Federal officials are expected to announce awards this summer.

Since the spectacular tunnel derailment and fire of 2001 halted freight traffic in the corridor for almost a week, there have been a series of smaller-scale incidents along the approaches to the tunnels.

In 2005, a three-car derailment near the site of the 2001 incident prompted then-Mayor Martin O’Malley to call for a federal inspection.

Two years later, 12 cars derailed near M&T Bank Stadium. The next month, a CSX tanker left the rails in Locust Point.

Deadlier CSX derailments have occurred elsewhere in Maryland. In August 2012, two young women who were on railroad property in Ellicott City were killed when a train went off the tracks and spilled a load of coal on them. In 2000, a train left the tracks in the Western Maryland town of Bloomington, crashed into a home and killed a 15-year-old boy.

The last major CSX derailment in Maryland took place in May 2014, when three locomotives and 11 cars left the tracks while crossing a culvert blocked by debris in Prince George’s County. There were no injuries, but the mishap caused more than $300,000 in damage, federal records show.

Environmental advocates and city residents have long voiced concern about freight trains carrying hazardous chemicals through and underneath Baltimore’s neighborhoods. The City Council held a two-hour public hearing last summer on the safety of shipping crude oil through Baltimore.

Keisha Allen, president of the Westport Neighborhood Association, said her home is within a block of freight tracks — well within the “blast zone,” should a derailment cause an explosion.

“That’s the issue, the fact that it’s highly flammable,” she said.

Allen said she and her neighbors want the city to require CSX and Norfolk Southern to disclose what’s being shipped on the freight trains and when.

“There needs to be a clear indication of what’s coming through,” she said. “If it’s something that flammable, that volatile, there needs to be notification, at a minimum. … We would sleep better knowing there’s a process.”

Lawrence Mann, a Washington attorney who specializes in railroad liability cases, said the industry has generally been lax about track inspections.

“The railroads have either fired or furloughed thousands of track inspectors around the country,” he said. “They just don’t have the manpower to do the job that’s required.”

The country’s major railroads spent $28 billion on capital expenditures and maintenance in 2014, the Association of American Railroads reported Monday.

That investment increased to $30 billion last year and is expected to hover around $26 billion this year, said Edward Hamberger, president and CEO of the trade industry group.

That has increased from the roughly $20 billion in annual infrastructure investment between 1983 and 2011, as carriers work to keep up with customer demands for reliability and service, including new double-stack containers, he said.

The investments have also improved safety, Hamberger said. The association recently reported a 79 percent decline in train accidents since 1980.

“A well-maintained railroad is a safer railroad,” he said. “The fact that we can spend this amount of money to put in new tracks, all-new technologies, and maintain it is really a point that needs to be driven home.”

He said some carriers have been reluctant to participate in public-private partnerships because public money typically comes with constraints and major projects often get bogged down in lengthy public permitting procedures.

“It’s never fast enough, but we’re trying to do the best we can,” he said.

Baltimore Sun reporter Natalie Sherman contributed to this article.

Gun control, Mass shootings

Stop the Mass Shootings!

rainbow flag candleBy Roger Straw, June 12, 2016
UPDATE – mass shooting in Orlando FL
This Michael Moore tweet says it all:

Here is the latest sad mass shooting statistic from The Guardian (6/14/2016):

Guardian_mass-shootings_2016-06-14

Previously (October 7, 2015): 
I will take a brief time out … again … from my reporting on crude by rail to raise the awful issue of gun control and the almost daily occurrence of mass shootings in the United States.  (Mass shooting is defined as four or more people shot in an event, or related series of events, likely without a cooling off period).   See below.

– Roger Straw, Editor, The Benicia Independent

IMPORTANT: The Guardian’s report, “994 mass shootings in 1,004 days: this is what America’s gun crisis looks like,” is a shocking visual representation of the almost daily mass shootings in the U.S.

The Guardian article is based on statistics gathered by Mass Shooting Tracker.  The current page on Mass Shooting Tracker shows three more mass shootings on the day after the college campus shooting in Roseburg, Oregon:

  • 10/2/2015 – 1 dead, 4 wounded in Baltimore, MD
  • 10/2/2015 – 3 dead, 1 wounded in Inglis, FL
  • 10/2/2015 – 1 dead, 4 wounded, again in Baltimore, MD

Your news media simply CAN’T KEEP UP with the flood of mass shootings.  So far in 2015, (on October 7, the 280th day of the year) 379 have been killed in mass shootings, and 1094 have been shot and survived.  Who knew, you might ask?  Well, survivors, for sure.  Their lives will never be the same.  Nor will those of families, friends and neighbors of those who are killed or injured in these mass shootings.

LOCAL:  Note this story from last week about the gunshot slaying of a local family: 16-year-old Benicia boy suspect in his family slaying.

FROM BENINDY ARCHIVES…
For a short time in May 2013, not long after the Sandyhook Elementary shooting in Newtown, Massachusetts, the Benicia Independent’s “single-issue focus” was on gun control.  At that time, I linked to a series of stories showing that the issue extends to our small town of Benicia.  (See archive copy below.)  

Gun Violence is a problem in Benicia

By Roger Straw
May 16, 2013, 2:30 PM

Gun violence is in fact a BENICIA problem … it is time to take action in EVERY city and town. Here are 21 links to Benicia Herald reports of gun violations in Benicia April, 2010 to May 16, 2013.

BREAKING: Armed Liberty High student accused of threatening classmate

By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
Benicia police arrested a 17-year-old Liberty High School student they said made threats Wednesday to kill a classmate, and Thursday brought a gun to campus, Lt. Frank Hartig said. The youth’s identity was not disclosed, but he was accused of felony counts of terrorist threats and possessing a firearm on school grounds, as well as misdemeanor accusations of possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number; of being a minor in possession of ammunition; possession of an assault weapon; and being a minor in possession of a concealed firearm, Hartig said.
May 16, 2013

County youth homicide rate on the rise
Solano ranks 6th in California
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

Solano County has been ranked sixth among California counties in youth and young adult homicides, said Marty Langley, policy analyst for the the Violence Policy Center, Washington, D.C. San Joaquin County topped the list that is based on 2011 statistics, and several counties reported no homicides among those 10 to 24, the age range that is the focus of the center’s report.
March 7, 2013 at 11:01 am

Police search reveals drugs, ‘suspected Molotov cocktail’
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

Benicia police arrested a Benicia man early Monday in the Solano County Square parking lot after a police dog detected drugs in the vicinity of the man’s car. A search turned up drugs, weapons and a suspected incendiary device, Lt. Frank Hartig said Tuesday afternoon.
December 11, 2012 at 3:39 pm

Man sought in Benicia robbery dies in standoff Police: After chase to Treasure Island, Duncan Phillips shot himself
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

A man sought by Benicia police in the Thanksgiving Day armed robbery of one woman and theft of another women’s car died early Tuesday of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot after a lengthy standoff on Treasure Island, San Francisco police said. Duncan Phillips, 29, had been the subject of a Benicia police search after he was suspected of attacking and robbing a 52-year-old woman at her apartment on the 900 block of Southampton Road, Lt. Frank Hartig said.
November 27, 2012 at 4:18 pm

Armed robbery at Fast and Easy Mart
Staff Report

Fast and Easy Mart, 1500 East Fifth Street, was held up Thursday night by armed robbers, police said. The lone clerk described the four assailants as African-American men in the 20s or 30s, wearing dark-colored bandanas over their mouths, police said.
August 17, 2012 at 10:57 am

Held in county lockup, suspect charged with attempted murder of police officer 
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

The 22-year-old American Canyon man identified as the suspect who exchanged gunfire with a Benicia police officer Saturday afternoon remained in Solano County Jail, Fairfield, after his arrest Sunday morning in Vallejo, authorities said Monday. Robert Flores Folster was arrested by Benicia police with help from Vallejo police at 1324 Lincoln Road East in Vallejo on Sunday morning, according to Lt. Mike Greene and Solano County Jail records. Folster has been booked on charges of burglary, endangerment of a child that could result in injury or death, attempted murder, carjacking, receiving stolen property and vehicle theft, according to jail records. All are felony charges. While bail of $1,050,000 was set for the first three charges, Folster is being held without bail on the latter three.
July 17, 2012 at 8:08 am

Drug, gun charges for Benicia juvenile

By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
A 17-year-old Benicia driver who ran a stop sign late Thursday was arrested on weapons and drug charges and was taken to Solano County Juvenile Hall in Fairfield, Lt. Frank Hartig said Friday. Read the rest of this entry »
July 13, 2012 at 4:02 pm

BREAKING: Man robs 7-11 at gunpoint

with 2 comments
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
A convenience store clerk was robbed at gunpoint early Tuesday, and the suspect not only demanded money from the register’ but the clerk’s wallet as well, Benicia police Lt. Frank Hartig said.
The robber escaped on foot, and the clerk was not harmed, he said. Read the rest of this entry »
June 5, 2012 at 5:19 pm

Police say Rio Vista man had 2 concealed guns

with 2 comments
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
A Rio Vista man has been jailed after Benicia police accused him of two firearms violations following a traffic stop in a residential area. Read the rest of this entry »
May 25, 2012 at 5:54 am

Gunshots in Benicia lead to charge of endangerment

with one comment
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
Benicia Police arrested a 20-year-old Napa man early Wednesday and accused him of endangering a child when he negligently fired a revolver from his car while he on the 1300 block of Southampton Road, Lt. Frank Hartig said. Read the rest of this entry »
May 10, 2012 at 1:37 pm

BREAKING: Armed gunman holds up Benicia business

with 43 comments
Staff Report
Benicia police said an armed robber entered a Southampton business Thursday afternoon and escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash.
No one was injured in the holdup at Check Into Cash, 806 Southampton Road, police said. Read the rest of this entry »

Police find 59 guns; resident arrested

with 5 comments

SOME of the 59 guns police confiscated from a Benicia resident Thursday, including a 9mm UZI.
Courtesy BPD
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
A 49-year-old Benicia man has been arrested and a cache of guns, including an illegal 9 mm UZI assault weapon, were confiscated after Benicia police looked into reports Thursday that the man had been harassing a 20-year-old Martinez woman, Lt. Mike Daley said. Read the rest of this entry »
October 28, 2011 at 3:13 pm

Police arrest parolee on weapons charges
Staff Report

Benicia police on Friday arrested a Magalia, Calif., man after finding a handgun and tools commonly used for car theft in his possession. Police Sgt. John Daley stopped a 1994 Acura on the 900 block of Cambridge Drive at about 6:24 a.m. for an expired registration. After the stop police determined that the passenger, Brad Stancliff, 23, had a felony warrant for his arrest from the California Department of Corrections, according to a Benicia Police Department news release.
April 8, 2011 at 9:41 pm

Police: Man aimed gun at roommate

By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

A 28-year-old Benicia man who police said pointed a handgun at his roommate’s forehead Tuesday evening was arrested and charged with a felony.
Lt. Mike Daley said the 34-year-old roommate called police and said the man had pointed the gun at him about 6:46 p.m. after they had been arguing. Read the rest of this entry »
March 17, 2011 at 5:31 am

Absent plate leads to weapons, drug arrest
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

The occupants of a Ford Thunderbird missing its rear license plate were arrested Tuesday night and charged with weapons and drug violations, Benicia police Lt. Mike Daley said Wednesday. Benicia K-9 Officer Damiean Sylvester noticed the Thunderbird was missing its plate and stopped the vehicle on East Fifth Street at the eastbound Interstate 780 on-ramp, Daley said. Sylvester spoke with the driver and passenger and discovered each had some prescription medicine but no prescriptions, Daley said. The passenger also had a substance police believe is methamphetamine, he said.
March 10, 2011 at 1:32 am

Lone gunman robs store in Southampton

By Marc Ethier
Editor
“Friday the 13th” it was not, but a lone gunman wearing a mask popularized by the horror film series was deadly serious Wednesday when he entered a Southampton Shopping Center store.
The gunman entered GameStop, 821 Southampton Road, at 9:54 p.m. wearing a white hockey mask, according to a Benicia police report. He brandished but did not point a black, semi-automatic-type handgun and demanded cash, then escaped with an undisclosed amount, police said. Read the rest of this entry »
December 30, 2010 at 10:20 pm

Police: Benicia man hospitalized with apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound

By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
A Benicia man was taken to an area hospital early Monday after police found him wounded by a gun he may have fired himself.
The man was listed in critical but stable condition at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek later that day, Lt. Bob Oettinger said. Read the rest of this entry »
December 20, 2010 at 10:23 pm

Gunpoint robbery at Homecoming

with 3 comments
“One suspect pulled a black, semiautomatic gun and stuck it into the stomach of one of the victims.” — Benicia police Sgt. Scott Przekurat 
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
Two 14-year-old Benicia High School students were robbed at gunpoint by four teenagers Friday night after the school’s homecoming game, Benicia police said Monday.
A school administrator appeared shortly after the four robbed the two boys of their wallets, cell phones and a small amount of money, prompting the robbers to scatter, said Sgt. Scott C. Przekurat of the department’s investigations unit.
The victims were walking through the campus after the game and had entered an outside hallway along the school’s A Wing at about 11 p.m. when they were approached by the four robbers, all described as wearing dark sweaters or jackets, dark pants, and flat-billed ball caps, Przekurat said. Read the rest of this entry »
October 18, 2010 at 11:26 pm

Gunshots spur school lockdown

❒ None hurt; police arrest 4 in drive-by 
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
Robert Semple Elementary School was placed on lockdown about 2:30 p.m. Thursday while authorities searched the area for gunmen who apparently were stalking a Benicia man and his girlfriend.
Vincent Winnie, a 22-year-old Vallejo man, and three others were arrested by Benicia police at the Interstate 780-Interstate 80 interchange, Lt. Mike Daley said. They were still being processed by police at press time.
The incident started before 1 p.m. when police received multiple calls of a possible drive-by shooting at the first block of La Prenda Avenue, Daley said. Read the rest of this entry »
October 1, 2010 at 12:32 am

City police seek help on reports of gunshots

BENICIA POLICE Lt. Mike Daley.
Herald file photo
❒ None injured in 2 incidents last week
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
Benicia police are asking residents to help them solve two incidents involving gunfire that occurred four days apart, Lt. Mike Daley said Wednesday.
The first report was of shots fired on the 400 block of East L Street about 8:10 p.m. on June 29, Daley said. Read the rest of this entry »
July 7, 2010 at 11:50 pm

Autopsy confirms Benicians’ deaths came by gunshot

By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

Autopsies performed Wednesday on the two Benicia residents who died in an apparent murder-suicide confirmed that Walter Little, 48, and his girlfriend, Julie Strack, 49, both died of gunshot wounds, Solano County Deputy Sheriff Corey McLean said.
Little, of 69 Vista Grande, died of an intraoral gunshot wound while Strack, of the same address, died of two wounds, one to the head and one to the neck, McLean said. Read the rest of this entry »
April 17, 2010 at 12:11 am