Bakken Crude, California Regulation, Crude By Rail, Emergency Readiness & Response

Letter to the California Energy Commission: a stronger approach to rail safety

[Editor: The Benicia Independent joined the NRDC, the City of Berkeley, Benicians for a Safe and Healthy Community and many other organizations with this letter to the California Energy Commission building on recommendations of the State of California Interagency Rail Safety Working Group, and asking for a more aggressive approach to rail safety in California.  Below is the lead paragraph – click here for the full 8-page letter in PDF format.  – RS]

July 10, 2014

Via Email to: docket@energy.ca.gov
California Energy Commission
Dockets Office, MS-4
1516 Ninth Street
Sacramento, CA 95814-5512

Re: Docket No. 14-IEP-1F; Additional Recommendations for Oil By Rail Safety in California

Dear Commissioners Weisenmiller, Scott, Hochschild, McAllister, and Douglas:

On behalf of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the City of Berkeley and the undersigned groups, representing over 500,000 members, activists, and residents in California, we write to submit comments on the policy recommendations included in the report “Oil by Rail Safety in California” by the State of California Interagency Rail Safety Working Group (“the report”). The report was released on June 10, 2014, and includes background on the rise of crude-by-rail transport in California and an overview of the unique risks that crude-by-rail transport poses to California, along with recommendations for actions the state should take to address those risks. We commend the state for taking this first step towards addressing this urgent issue, and particularly are impressed with recommendations to increase support to local emergency responders and extend the Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) fee to apply to rail shipments of crude. There are a number of areas, however, where we are concerned that the Working Group’s recommendations are not aggressive enough to address the full extent of the serious safety, public health, and environmental risks of crude-by-rail.  [ MORE ]

 

Benicia Planning Commission, Take Action, Valero Crude By Rail

We’ve Waited A Year For This – Thursday, 7/10, Benicia Planning Commission – BE THERE!

For survivors in Lac-Mégantic, for all of us here – This Thursday, Planning Commission meeting – BE THERE!

Benicia Independent Editor Roger Straw, July 7, 2014

A year ago, a runaway crude oil train exploded at 1am in downtown Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, killing 47, virtually destroying their downtown, and fouling the land, air and the river running through town.

At that time here in Benicia, a group of residents were preparing an educational forum on the likely environmental impacts of Valero’s Crude By Rail (CBR) proposal.  We had been calling for a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR).

The accident in Canada was a shocking eye-opener for those of us who were raising issues about Valero CBR.  Not only would these 3/4-mile-long trains full of Bakken crude oil and/or tar sands dilbit present a threat to the environment during extraction and refining – we now knew for a fact that they would also bring a profound risk of massive spills and deadly explosions whenever one would derail.

It wasn’t long after the explosion in Canada that I began to think that the requirement of a full EIR was not enough; that our leaders in Benicia simply had to take courage and say NO.  Our decision on Valero Crude By Rail here in our city of 27,000 affects the health and safety of millions uprail of here, from the extraction pits and fracking fields in the upper Midwest to communities all along the tracks.  Residents, schools, commercial centers, mountain passes and protected wetlands are at risk of MORE than just damage – this threat goes to a risk of destruction, absolute loss.

Since Lac-Mégantic, there have been at least 8 other major derailments in North America, including 5 more with catastrophic explosions.  The massive increase in crude by rail has dramatically increased the risk of accidental spills and deadly fires.

On this coming Thursday evening in Benicia’s City Hall, you are encouraged to join with our Planning Commission to express your questions and concerns related to Valero’s Draft EIR.  (Agenda)  This is a hearing that we have been calling for since last year at this time, a hearing that is crucial to our own health and safety, the health and safety of every worker in our Industrial Park, and to the well being of everyone uprail of Benicia.  Please plan to attend.  Details below.

Planning Commission Public Hearing on Valero Crude by Rail Draft Environmental Impact Report
Thurs, July 10, 7pm, Council Chambers, City Hall.
IMPORTANT – plan to attend.  Let your voice be heard!
Click here for the agenda
Write to the City c/o Amy Million, Principal Planner, Community Development Department, City of Benicia, 250 East L Street, Benicia, CA 94510 (or by EMAIL to Amy.Million@ci.benicia.ca.us).

Bakken Crude, Blast zone, Crude By Rail, donner, DOT-111, Hazmat notification, Massive increase in crude-by-rail, Rail routing, Take Action

Crude By Rail protest at rail station in Davis, CA

Repost from Fox40 TV Sacramento / Stockton / Modesto
[Editor:  Thank you, Davis!  Thank you, Assemblyman Roger Dickinson!  Thank you Fox40!  – RS]

Crude Oil by Rail Opponents Stage Protests

July 9, 2014, by Lonnie Wong

SACRAMENTO – Activists concerned about the danger of crude oil train shipments through populated areas took part in a national day of action Wednesday, including events in Sacramento and Davis.

Laurie Litman heads up 350 Sacramento, a group concerned about global warming. She notes that shipments of crude oil in California have increased 1,300 percent over the past four years.

Litman circulated a map at a rally outside a federal building in Sacramento showing neighborhoods and schools that would be affected by a fiery oil spill like the one that killed 47 people in Quebec, Canada a year ago.

“These are not fires that can be put out. They need to burn out, so if that happens when a train comes through the middle of Sacramento, we are in trouble” Litman said.

Sacramento Assembly Member Roger Dickinson addressed the gathering, telling them that emergency agency need to know what volatile oil shipments are being transported and when. He has authored a bill requiring rail companies to provide that information and have access to real time communications gear to get information to local officials.

Several rail spills occurred in areas where emergency responders had no little information of what was spilled.

“To assure that we get the information that we need, and the information that we need in a timely way,” said Dickinson.

Many at the rally were advocating a reduction in the use of crude oil as a long term solution to the threat of oil derailments.

“It’s not if, it’s when because it has happened before,” David Link, of the Sacramento Electrical Vehicle Association, said Wednesday.

Activists in Davis are particularly concerned about a plan to run 100 oil tank cars a day through Downtown Davis to a Valero refinery in Benecia. If approved, the trains would go from Roseville thorough Sacramento past Davis.

They handed out leaflets and circulated petitions at the Davis Rail Station.

For safe and healthy communities…