Repost from the Vallejo Times-Herald [Editor: Many thanks to the Vallejo Times-Herald for covering the Benicia Rally. There were actually 21 of us there. We chanted “Leave the oil … in the soil!” Passing motorists waved, honked and gave us thumbs-up. A few pedestrians stopped to talk. – RS]
North Dakota train explosion incites Benicia protest
Chris Riley — Vallejo Times-Herald
About a dozen members of Benicians for a Safe and Healthy Community, a citizen group against Valero’s crude-by-rail project, stage a protest Thursday morning at Benicia’s City Park in light of Wednesday’s crude-by-rail train derailment and explosion in North Dakota. Benicia is currently processing the use permit and Environmental Impact Report for the project. The recirculated draft EIR is anticipated to be released for public comment June 30. Chris Riley — Vallejo Times-Herald
Oil Train Derails, Explodes in North Dakota – Rally for Benicia Awareness and Action! CITY PARK, FIRST & MILITARY, BENICIA, 11:45 a.m.
Everyone said it would happen again soon. Well, Wednesday, May 6 was “The Next BIG ONE” … … and one more is one too many!
We heard all-too-familiar news this morning – that an oil train derailed and exploded in North Dakota. Only this time, it was just four days after the Department of Transportation released new rules for trains hauling hazardous crude oil. Residents of the town of Heimdal, North Dakota were evacuated and warned about smoke inhalation. Thankfully, as of this writing, no one was injured or killed, but lives are upset, the land and air are fouled, and rainwater is gathering in an intermittent nearby waterway known as the Big Slough, which feeds into the James River 15 miles downstream.
At 11:45 a.m. Thursday, join us in City Park, First & Military in Benicia to protest the growing presence of explosive Bakken crude oil trains in the U.S. and Canada. Together, we will call attention to the role that Benicia may (or may not) play in future explosions like the one that took place today, should the City permit Valero Refinery to build a crude-by-rail offloading facility here.
Today’s explosion in North Dakota is the fifth explosive derailment that has occurred in the U.S. and Canada this year, including these previous accidents in 2015:
Gogama, Ontario Canada
Mount Carbon, West Virginia
Galena, Illinois and
Another one in Gogama, Ontario, Canada.
Since July of 2013, when a train carrying explosive Bakken crude oil from North Dakota derailed causing the deaths of 47 people in Lac Mégantic, Quebec, there have been four additional explosive derailments of Bakken crude in North America:
Aliceville, Alabama in November, 2013
Casselton, North Dakota in December of 2013
New Brunswick, Canada in January of 2014, and
Lynchburg, Virginia in April of 2014.
Because Valero plans to bring Bakken crude oil to Benicia, this same disaster could happen here, or anywhere along the way to our small city.
Benicia’s great opportunityin coming months is to say a firm NO THANKS to our friends at Valero, and to wish them well in our shared future of clean and renewable energy.
By Lois Kazakoff on May 1, 2015 5:50 PM
California moves to prevent spills of oil shipped by trains – Oil imports by rail account for just about 1 percent of total shipments to California refineries, but they are rising rapidly. Above, trains at a Union Pacific yard in Bloomington, Calif. Photo By Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times/MCT
The U.S. Department of Transportation unveiled new rules on transporting crude oil by rail Friday that set a timeline to get old-technology, easily punctured tank cars off U.S. and Canadian rail lines but fail to address the explosive nature of the Bakken crude that sparked the public’s concerns to begin with.
While the new rules are a step toward safer rail transport, it is a disappointing decision for the dozens of communities the oil trains roll through on the way to West Coast refineries. The new rules get the old DOT-111 cars off the rails over the next three years, and beef up the steel gauge required to construct the new CPC-1232 cars. But the Department of Transportation itself noted nearly a decade ago that the old cars punctured in minor, low-speed collisions. The new rules should have immediately banned them rather than phasing them out.
Most distressing is that the new rules do not set a standard for the volatility of what goes in the tank cars. Lower volatility would reduce the risk of explosions. Crude extracted from the Bakken Oil Shale is significantly more volatile than other types of petroleum — a fact the Department of Transportation has acknowledged and the public became aware of in July 2013 when a train carrying Bakken crude exploded in Lac Megantic, Ontario.
The new rules will do little to allay the worries of residents in Davis, Martinez and Pinole, where railroad tracks crisscross streets, or in Benicia, where Valero has applied for permission to retrofit its refinery to receive crude by rail in addition to crude by tanker ship. Valero has proposed moving the oil in the CPC-1232 cars, limiting oil trains to 50 cars rather than the more standard unit of 100 cars, and reducing train speeds in town. The City of Benicia is expected to release the draft environmental impact report on the project June 30.
Bills introduced in the House and the Senate this month would address these concerns, and more, notably requirements to notify first responders in real time when the trains are coming through. The new department rules require a railroads to provide a telephone number for first responders to call but do not require notification.
“These rules do not go far enough in addressing the safety concerns posed by trains transporting highly volatile crude oil through the heart of our communities,” said Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena. “We need to put robust, comprehensive safety measures in place that will help make sure communities are safe, rail cars meet the strongest possible standards, and first responders are prepared in the event of an emergency. DOT’s rules do not sufficiently address these issues and so Congress should act to put safety measures in place.”
Action in Congress this month presaged the announcement of the new less-than-adequate Department of Transportation regulations.
Thompson’s bill, introduced April 15 and co-authored with Reps. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, and Ron Kind, D-Wis., would require volatility standards and weekly communications between first responders and railroad officials about crude oil trains.
In the Senate, Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-San Francisco, Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., introduced legislation April 30 to protect communities from oil train accidents, focusing on communication with first responders.
Last year saw a record 144 rail accidents in the U.S., up from just one in 2009. The volume of oil cars, however, has increased by 4000 percent since 2008.
Rep. Thompson has it right: Congress needs to step in and demand better protections for communities on the rail lines.
Repost from The Fairfield Daily Republic [Editor: Download the 152-page Update from the STA website. Although this article doesn’t mention it, significant attention is paid to crude by rail in the Update: see p. 8 on the Benicia-Martinez Railroad Bridge, p. 15 on the Valero Refinery, pp. 27-29 on Future Demand (including crude-by-rail), pp. 91-93 on Potential Projects, and See also p. 130 on Positive Train Control and a reference on p. 131 to a possible “Benicia Narrows high-level rail crossing bypassing downtown Benicia.” (Note PDF page numbering is 4 more than doc page numbers) – RS]
Solano Rail Facilities Plan Update available for review
By Kevin W. Green, 4/18/15
SUISUN CITY — A draft Solano Rail Facilities Plan Update has been released for public review.
The governing board of the Solano Transportation Authority released the study this week for a 30-day period public comment.
The board last year approved developing an update to the rail plan, which was originally adopted in 1995. The board wanted to update priorities for rail stations and future service and rail freight priorities, according to a staff report.
In addition to focusing on passenger rail facilities along the main Union Pacific rail lines, it also addresses passenger rail potential in the Vallejo area and freight rail throughout Solano County, staff said in the report.
The four daily long-distance Amtrak services that connect the Bay Area with destinations to the north, south and east do not serve Solano communities directly, according to the study. As one of the largest service areas by population on those routes without a station stop, Solano should consider advocating a stop at the Suisun City or Fairfield-Vacaville stations, the study said.
Passenger travel from the Suisun City station on the Capitol Corridor, meanwhile, is about evenly split – with passengers heading east nearly equal to those going west, consultant David McCrossan said in presenting the plan update to the Solano Transportation Authority’s board.
The study includes anticipated growth in passenger rail service. Ridership growth of 10 percent to 20 percent is expected in the next 10 years, it said.
The opening of the new Fairfield-Vacaville station will likely add up to 15 percent to the total ridership within the county, the study indicated. Although the new station may initially share some of the catchment of the current Suisun City station, growing mixed-use development in the immediate vicinity of both stations will lift ridership levels overall beyond their current totals at each location, the study said.
The plan outlines various projects slated within the next 10 years. Included are station improvements, local station connections, passenger service levels, accommodating growing ridership, infrastructure safety enhancements and rail infrastructure capacity.
The infrastructure enhancements include crossing improvements at East Tabor Avenue in Fairfield, First Street in Dixon, Canon Road in Fairfield, Fry Road in Vacaville, A Street in Dixon and Midway Road in Solano County.
For more information about the rail plan update, contact the Solano Transportation Authority at 424-6075.
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