Repost from an email, Lynne Nittler, of Davis, CA
[Editor: Lynne Nittler and her friends at Cool Davis and Yolano Climate Action do a great job of organizing. Davis is a primary “uprail community” that would be at high risk if Valero Benicia Refinery’s Crude By Rail proposal is permitted. I appreciated Lynne’s recent update and summary, below. – RS]
Oil Train: photos, Ca Energy Commission powerpoint, & actions
From: Lynne Nittler
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2015 3:15 PM
Dear oil train friends,
1. July 11 Stop Oil Trains Action – photos
On July 11, over 80 Davis residents turned out to remember the 2013 oil derailment that decimated Lac-Megantic, taking 47 lives. Davis faces the threat of a similar accident. Currently, at least one oil train of Bakken Crude per week passes through Davis headed to the Bay Area. Two more 100-car trains per day are planned for the near future for the Valero Refinery in Benicia and the Phillips 66 refinery in San Luis Obispo…unless citizens stop them.
The Davis Stop Oil Trains action was one of many during the Week of Oil Train Action. Check out photographs from actions across the country here. Look for Davis! https://www.flickr.com/photos/foresethics/sets/72157655110369339
See our own review with photos here: https://yolanoclimateaction.wordpress.com/2015/07/20/davis-residents-protest-oil-trains-moving-through-town/
2. Review of July 11:
Locally, the ForestEthics www.Blast-Zone.org map shows endangered homes and businesses along 2nd Street including the police station, Carlton Plaza Senior Living and Rancho Yolo. The entire Davis downtown is vulnerable along with parts of UC Davis campus and apartments complexes along Olive Drive.
The July 11 Vigil and Rally highlighted public opposition to oil trains passing through Davis. Too many residents live in the oil train blast zone, the one mile evacuation zone recommended by safety officials in the case of an oil train derailment and fire. ForestEthics calculates that nationwide, 25 million Americans live in the blast zone.
Wearing fiery red, yellow and orange shirts, Davisites met at the train station and walked through the Davis blast zone downtown to the Rotary Stage in Central Park.
We sang feisty songs led by the Raging Grannies. We’ll be starting a group in Davis. Let Lynne know if you’re interested.
Mayor Dan Wolk explained the city council’s resolution opposing oil by rail, available at http://citycouncil.cityofdavis.org/Media/Default/Documents/PDF/CityCouncil/CouncilMeetings/Agendas/20140422/04B-Opposing-Oil-By-Rail.pdf
City Councilman Lucas Frerichs spoke on the Sacramento Area Council of Government’s nearly unanimous decision to confront the issue. SACOG is composed of 22 cities and 6 counties. http://www.sacog.org/calendar/2014/08/rail/pdf/2-Valero%20EIR%20Comments.pdf
At the state level, Senator Lois Wolk shared the past and present legislative responses to the sudden surge of crude-by-rail transport into California aimed at protecting the public as well as sensitive habitat and waterways.
Supervisor Jim Provenza and Damien Luzzo focused on the extraction side of the issue in Yolo County. Damien offered his story about how he came to oppose fracking at http://tinyurl.com/CAFrackWars and the Pledge of Resistance at http://tinyurl.com/FrackingPledgeOfResistance. Sign his petition to ban fracking!
3. Urgent Action: Urge Assemblyman Bill Dodd to support SB32 & SB350! Information on the proposed Yolo ban on fracking were available as well as a letter to Assemblyman Bill Dodd urging him to support two critical climate bills due for a vote in mid-August:
- SB32 extending our CA carbon reduction bill, and
- SB350 aiming for 50% lower car emissions, 50% greater building efficiency, and 50% more solar and wind-generated electricity by 2030.
4. Conclusion:
There is NO safe way to transport extreme tar sands and Bakken crude. Two years after Lac-Mégantic, oil trains keep exploding and carbon pollution keeps rising. Oil trains are a disaster for our health, our safety, and our climate.
Given the unresolved dangers of crude oil transport by rail and the overload of carbon emissions already in the atmosphere, a more prudent path is to leave all extreme crude in the ground, transition to clean, renewable energy, and practice energy conservation in an effort to reverse climate change and live sustainably on a finite planet.
5. Next oil train actions:
Powerpoint by CA Energy Commission: Read attached, a thorough and up-to-date powerpoint, to educate yourself on national and state oil and crude by rail issues in CA. Excellent resource!
Santa Maria refinery in San Luis Obispo: We are waiting for a hearing announcement where we can testify.
Valero Refinery in Benicia: The revised DEIR will be released on Aug. 31 for a 45-day written public comment period. Our letters will be crucial when the Planning commission and late the City council makes their decisions whether to finalize the EIR and permit Valero’s rail spur.