All posts by Roger Straw

Editor, owner, publisher of The Benicia Independent
Crude By Rail, Derailment, Keeping Watch on Earth News, Oil spill, Oil trains

Train derailment: 230,000 gallons of crude oil released into Iowa floodwaters

Repost from the Des Moines Register

230,000 gallons of crude released into floodwaters after train derailment, railroad says

Associated Press, 4:59 p.m. CT June 23, 2018


DOON, Iowa — A railroad official says 14 of 32 derailed oil tanker cars in the northwest corner of Iowa dumped an estimated 230,000 gallons of crude oil into floodwaters, with some making its way to nearby rivers.

BNSF spokesman Andy Williams confirmed the details Saturday. He said that nearly half the spill had been contained with booms near the derailment site and an additional boom placed approximately 5 miles downstream. Williams had earlier said that 33 oil cars derailed.

Williams said that oil will be removed from that containment site with equipment to separate the oil from the water.

The railroad will focus on environmental recovery. Williams said “ongoing monitoring is occurring for any potential conditions that could impact workers and the community and, so far, have found no levels of concern.”

The train derailed early Friday just south of Doon in Lyon County, leaking oil into surrounding floodwaters from the swollen Little Rock River.

Crews work to clean up cars from the BNSF railway afterSome officials have speculated that floodwaters eroded soil beneath the train track. The nearby Little Rock River rose rapidly after heavy rain Wednesday and Thursday.

Within hours of the derailment, BNSF had brought in dozens of semitrailers loaded with equipment to clean up the spill, including containment booms, skimmers and vacuum trucks.

“We are working as quickly as we can to get this cleaned up,” Williams said Saturday. “We’ve had skimmers working since yesterday on the floodwater south of the site.”

A major part of that work includes building a temporary road parallel to the tracks to allow in cranes that can remove the derailed and partially-submerged oil cars. Williams said officials hoped to reach the cars by sometime Saturday afternoon.

The train was carrying tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, to Stroud, Oklahoma, for ConocoPhillips. ConocoPhillips spokesman Daren Beaudo said each tanker can hold more than 25,000 gallons of oil.

Beaudo also did not know whether the derailed oil cars were the safer, newer tankers intended to help prevent leaks in the event of an accident.

“We lease those cars and are in the process of verifying with the owners the exact rail car specifications,” Beaudo said in an email.

Gov. Kim Reynolds was set to visit the derailment site Saturday afternoon as part of a tour of areas hit by recent flooding.

The derailment also caused concern downstream, including as far south as Omaha, Nebraska, about 150 miles from the derailment site. The spill reached the Rock River, which joins the Big Sioux River before merging into the Missouri River at Sioux City.

Omaha’s public water utility — Metropolitan Utilities District — said it was monitoring pumps it uses to pull drinking water from the Missouri River.

Rock Valley, just southwest of the derailment, shut off its water wells within hours of the accident. It plans to drain and clean its wells and use a rural water system until testing shows its water is safe.

Air Monitoring, Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Benicia City Council, Industrial Safety Ordinance (ISO), Solano County Environmental Health Division, Valero Benicia Refinery

ISO Working Group personal reflection: City Council says no to industrial safety…for now

By Roger Straw

Council turns down draft local ISO, puts trust in Valero, County, State and Air District

Roger Straw, The Benicia Independent

It’s a sad story.  An ambitious and dedicated group of us formed a Benicia ISO Working Group over 7 months ago.  We met, researched, wrote, met with officials and embraced the pro-bono attorney labors of Terry Mollica, who drafted a head-start on Benicia’s own Industrial Safety Ordinance.

The City Council didn’t buy it.  Mostly, they bought the joint opinion of Valero, Solano County and the Bay Area Air District – that a LOCAL ordinance is redundant given new regional and state regulations.  Which of course, it isn’t – redundant, that is.

Mayor Patterson and Vice-mayor Steve Young voted to direct staff to further review the concept and the draft ordinance and return to Council with recommendations.  Mark Hughes (predictably), along with Alan Schwartzman and Tom Campbell, voted to wait awhile.

Significantly, for the first time on the public record, all five agreed that the City of Benicia and its residents are long overdue for air monitors.

Campbell and Schwartzman threatened Valero that they would revisit the issue and vote in favor of an ISO in November 2018 if Valero has not complied with a new Air District requirement for a few “fenceline” air monitors on Valero’s southeast border.

Of course, we would get fenceline AND COMMUNITY-BASED, neighborhood air monitors with the draft ISO.  But three Councilmembers chose to take a slower route with much less leverage over our local Goliath.

It could go either way in November or December.  Valero could conceivably install the required but totally inadequate fenceline monitors.  Or they could seek a delay, or just never perform.  It really doesn’t matter.  Many are saying we should sit tight, and hold Councilmembers Schwartzman and Campbell to their promise if Valero doesn’t comply – that they would then vote for an ISO.  Fine, but a better plan is to simply remember that Councilmember Hughes is up for re-election in November.  Whether or not Valero complies, a third vote on Council would be assured with Hughes’ defeat in November.

This isn’t over.  Benicia continues as the only refinery town in the Bay Area without a local industrial safety ordinance.  Our City staff and our citizens need a measure of oversight and control when it comes to our public health and safety.

Keeping Watch on Earth News

KQED Audio Report: When oil refineries flare, what happens to the air

Repost from KQED NPR – The Bay
[See also KQED: Benicia Rejects Safety Ordinance Proposed After Last Year’s Valero Outage.]

Listen to a fascinating and important 8-minute KQED audio report for interviews about asthma and Valero refinery pollution.  Extended interview with Ted Goldberg morning editor for KQED News, with updates on Benicia and Valero Refinery.  Click the logo above or here: When oil refineries flare, what happens to the air.  (Be patient – the audio has a slow start.)

Benicia City Council, Benicia city staff, Industrial Safety Ordinance (ISO), ISO Working Group

CALL TO ACTION! Benicia City Council Agenda & Important ISO Documents – June 19, 2018

By Roger Straw

Staff for the City of Benicia posted an agenda and multiple important attachments for the June 19 City Council meeting.  Plan to attend tonight’s Council meeting – doors open around 5:30pm, meeting starts at 7pm.

Most important documents for study are

The Benicia ISO Working Group has studied and worked on the issue for the past 7 months, hosting an expert panel in November 2017, and listening to concerns of residents, elected officials and City staff.  As an aid to City staff, the group enlisted pro bono support from local attorney Terry Mollica to prepare a rough draft of what a Benicia ISO might look like. City Council will decide next Tuesday whether to direct staff to investigate further and return with recommendations.

BACKGROUND & CALL TO ACTION: 

More than a year ago (on 05/23/17), Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson succeeded in requesting that Council direct staff to agendize a future Council discussion of drafting and adopting a community Industrial Safety Ordinance.  The Council voted 4-1 to approve and calendar further discussion.

This item will finally come up at the June 19, 2018 Council meeting. Mark your calendar and plan to attend! Council doors will open around 5:30pm.  AND… please send an email comment to the City!  (click here for info on where to write)

IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS RELEASED JUNE 13 FOR THE JUNE 19 CITY COUNCIL

AGENDA ITEM 15.B SECOND STEP OF MAYOR PATTERSON’S 2-STEP PROCESS REQUEST TO DISCUSS ADOPTING AN INDUSTRIAL SAFETY ORDINANCE

At the May 23, 2017 City Council meeting, Mayor Patterson brought a two-step process request to the Council to discuss consideration of adopting an Industrial Safety Ordinance. The Council directed staff to agendize the item for discussion. Staff has included preliminary research on this subject.

Staff Recommendation:
Discuss the merits of drafting and adopting a City of Benicia Industrial Safety Ordinance and give direction to staff on how to proceed. Two options are provided under the “Options for Council Consideration” section of this report.