Category Archives: Crude By Rail

Bakken Crude, Crude By Rail, Take Action

Oil Train Week of Action July 6-13, 2014

Repost from San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center

Oil Train Week of Action July 6-13, 2014

by Matt Landon ( vancouveractionnetwork [at] gmail.com )
Jun 20th, 2014

Bakken crude oil trains have exploded at least 8 times since the first a year ago in Canada. Please plan an action during July 6-13, 2014 to protest the continued endangerment of our communities by the oil by rail industry.

Please repost far and wide.

Are explosive Bakken crude oil trains coming through your town? / Actions you can take now!

July 6, 2014 marks the one year anniversary of the first major oil train explosion in Canada which took the lives of 47 people. The week of July 6-13, 2014 is an international week of action to mark this anniversary and make sure these folk’s lives were not lost in vain. Your actions should not be limited to this one week as we are dealing with an entrenched oil and rail industry and don’t settle for anything less than the a complete ban on any oil shipped by DOT 111 and DOT 111a cars.

Actions are being posted on http://www.stopoiltrains.org

When you organize a protest please contact us at vancouveractionnetwork [at] gmail.com

We have come up with tactics here in Vancouver, Washington to take this from a defensive to an offensive fight against the oil by rail industry. Please consider using these tactics as they are and will be effective. If you begin using this tactics please contact us so we can help document your work. If you need tech support contact us.

Take care, matt landon with Vancouver Action Network vancouveractionnetwork.blogspot.com

Check out this map to see if oil trains are coming through– http://priceofoil.org/rail-map/

Oil trains are bad because they have blown up at least 8 times in the last year killing innocent railside residents and polluting the environment. As the US and Canada have increased their oil extraction and production–and as resistance to oil pipelines becomes more effective–the use of trains to transport oil has skyrocketed, leaving communities vulnerable to explosions, oil spills, and unmonitored oil train air emissions. We must take action now to stop this trend!

Call to Action— Nationwide protests and formation of an International Oil Train Activists movement

This is a call for activists to join in creating an International Oil Train Activists movement and to help organize mass non-violent protests across the North American continent against explosive oil trains.

We have three nationwide protest actions.

1) First contact your state Emergency Management Agency and fill out a public records request for information which the railroads have provided to the EMA’s in relation to DOT Emergency Order DOT-OST-2014-0067 and which was due by June 7, 2014.

Find your state EMA– http://www.fema.gov/state-offices-and-agencies-emergency-management

For more info about DOT Emergency Order– http://www.dot.gov/briefing-room/emergency-order

Information on public records request in WA– http://www.mil.wa.gov/about/about_public_records_disclosure.shtml

Here is the request form for Washington state– http://www.mil.wa.gov/about/documents/mil_public_records_request_form.pdf

Please print the above form and fill in the following information including your name, date, email and signature and return to the WA state EMA or your state EMA.

We have filed an information request here in Washington state and the EMA informed us that the railroad would likely seek a court injunction against our request. This is GREAT because it means that the railroad is spending between several hundred and several thousand dollars to keep one person from one group from getting this information! Let’s see how many people we can get to request this information and how much money we can cost the railroads. We plan to request this information in 49 US states.

When you request info from your state EMA please let us know vancouveractionnetwork [at] gmail.com

2) Since the railroads won’t release their oil train information we can just generate the information ourselves. You can start a 100% Oil Train Watch in your city, town, or neighborhood by using Twitter on a computer or smart phone. If you see a 100% oil train Tweet the time, location, direction of train travel, and your state’s abbreviation in the hashtag such as #waoiltrainwatch for Washington state or #tnoiltrainwatch for Tennessee. By watching and recording these trains we can be a warning siren for first responders, elected officials and the general public with real time information. We can also use this information to provide a check on the info the railroads provide to the state EMAs, and on possible total oil train volume violations of air quality permits of current export facilities.

To view our Train Watching activities go to vancouveractionnetwork.blogspot.com

Let us know you are Tweeting about 100% oil trains at vancouveractionnetwork [at] gmail.com

3) The Department of Transportation and Federal Railroad Administration are the two agencies that regulate Hazardous Materials shipping via railroads. We demand that they immediately issue an Emergency Order halting the hauling of any type of crude oil in the outdated and unsafe DOT 111 and DOT 111a railcars. By organizing a protest in your own city or state you will be joining in the growing movement to bring a halt to these explosive oil trains before the next city is vaporized, life is lost, or environment spoiled.

The Department of Transportation has the authority to deem the DOT 111 and DOT 111a railcar fleet unsafe for hauling explosive crude oil yet they have been dragging their feet on taking real action. We demand they take immediate action. Each state has multiple regional DOT offices and we need protests at each one.

Department of Transportation state/ regional offices and headquarters in Washington DC– https://fhwaapps.fhwa.dot.gov/foisp/staffnetStateDOT.do
and

Federal Railroad Administration regional offices — http://www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P0244
Headquarters Washington DC Region 1 Cambridge, MA Region 2 Crum Lynne, PA Region 3 Atlanta, GA Region 4 Chicago, IL Region 5 Fort Worth, TX Region 6 Kansas City, MO Region 7 Sacramento, CA Region 8 Vancouver, WA

4) Consider attending the Washington Oil Train Summit August 22-23, 2014 at Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. More info at http://washingtonoiltrainsummit.blogspot.com This summit will mainly be focused on solidifying the WA Oil Train Activists actions but we are inviting representatives from other groups to attend as well so that we can grow the International movement.

Thanks Matt Landon with Vancouver Action Network vancouveractionnetwork.blogspot.com

http://vancouveractionnetwork.blogspot.com
Bakken Crude, Crude By Rail, Hazmat notification

CSX’s oil shipping information made public in Virginia

Repost from The Roanoke Times

[Editor: Significant quote: “In addition to describing oil train movements, the CSX notice to Virginia officials named contacts within the Jacksonville, Fla., company who oversee hazardous materials shipments; published a number for its emergency call center; and furnished nine pages of general and technical information about crude oil’s makeup, chemical properties, handling, dangers and mitigation measures in the event of a spill…. A red placard bearing the number 1267 is plastered on the side of every oil tanker car for easy identification.”  – RS]

CSX’s oil shipping information publicized by government

The disclosure of routes and frequency of oil trains through Virginia was first mandated by the Department of Trasnsportation
By Jeff Sturgeon | The Roanoke Times  |  June 20, 2014 

Between two and five CSX tanker trains loaded with 1 million gallons or more of flammable crude oil cross Virginia’s midsection weekly, taking a west-to-east route to a Yorktown refinery, state records show.

No railroad has previously revealed its oil shipping volumes and routes in the state. But the U.S. Department of Transportation last month told the nation’s railroads that ship flammable Bakken crude oil to notify states of oil-filled trains moving within their borders as a safety precaution, effective this month.

The first notice, received by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management about June 4, was made public Friday in response to a public records request.

The information is supposed to empower local emergency responders to better respond to a future train crash like the derailment that caught fire in Lynchburg almost eight weeks ago.

In disclosing its oil-hauling practices, CSX mapped the route along which it carries oil. The trains, which contain domestically pumped crude oil, appear to enter the state from West Virginia in Alleghany County, pass through or near Covington, and roll east to the Yorktown area, the site of an oil distribution terminal.

The trains traverse 20 counties.

Virginia officials are passing the information to local emergency responders in counties where oil trains pass. Quarterly updates will be shared as well, VDEM said.

The state’s emergency response agency plans to ask CSX to help develop a procedure by which a community holding a special event could ask CSX to modify its train schedules and not ship crude through that community during the event.

A high number of Bakken crude-filled trains in North America have crashed in recent years, leading to enactment of enhanced safety measures. The federal transportation agency issued an emergency order May 7 that directed the nation’s railroads to notify states about all oil trains carrying 1 million gallons or more of crude oil.

A train carrying 1 million gallons of oil would typically be comprised of about 35 tanker cars.

Norfolk Southern Corp. has notified the state it does operate such trains in Virginia.

Just a week before the new rule, a CSX oil train derailed, released oil and caught fire on the bank of the James River in Lynchburg. That train, which came from Chicago, was carrying 3 million gallons of crude oil on its way to Yorktown, VDEM said.

CSX continues to use the route through Lynchburg.

CSX officials asked Virginia officials to not make public the notification. But VDEM released it, saying the same information was available from other public sources.

In addition to describing oil train movements, the CSX notice to Virginia officials named contacts within the Jacksonville, Fla., company who oversee hazardous materials shipments; published a number for its emergency call center; and furnished nine pages of general and technical information about crude oil’s makeup, chemical properties, handling, dangers and mitigation measures in the event of a spill.

A red placard bearing the number 1267 is plastered on the side of every oil tanker car for easy identification.

Crude By Rail, DOT-111, Federal Regulation (U.S.), Local Regulation, Tank car design

Suburban Chicago mayors criticize crude oil tanker policy making

Repost from ABC7 Chicago Eyewitness News
[Editor: Be sure to read the mayors’ letter to the Obama Administration.  – RS]

Suburban mayors criticize crude oil tanker policy making

By Chuck Goudie, Friday, June 20, 2014

BARRINGTON, Ill. (WLS) — The ABC7 I-Team has new developments in the fight to protect Chicago and the suburbs from dangerous railroad cargo. The very people and groups who would be most affected by a rail tanker calamity, now say they are being excluded from the process of finding a safe solution.

Two suburban Chicago mayors have told the White House that rail industry executives are just “playing the odds” that a fiery tanker explosion will happen away from populated areas- and they say that is a “fool’s game.” Those stinging comments come in a letter to the Obama Administration that is critical of a curtain of secrecy they say has been built around the rulemaking process.

In the suburbs Friday morning, a procession of DOT-111 tankers hauling crude oil toward Chicago is daily evidence here that crude oil transport by rail is up 4000 percent in the past six years. With it, an increase in derailments, fires, explosions, damage and deaths. The original DOT-111 tankers weren’t constructed to handle hazardous, flammable cargo.

So, federal regulators are moving faster on new rules to protect the public. But in a dozen recent meetings between the Obama Administration and officials from the rail, petroleum and chemical industries, the public hasn’t been at the table.

The lack of transparency has Barrington President Karen Darch angry and Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner says their suburban downtowns could be obliterated in a major tanker accident.

Their letter this week to the White House calls for new rules to retrofit or retire the entire current fleet of DOT-111s, and build new tank cars to higher standards. “Anything less,” they state “is a grave disservice to the American public and its expectations that federal regulators are serving their public safety interests.”

One of the nation’s major rail freight operators- CSX- has it’s “safety train” rolling toward stops in northwest Indiana and Chicago. In New York this week, the rolling classroom trains first responders on what to do if a hazmat tanker derails, ruptures and blows up.

“We know there are hazardous materials on rail, on the road, every day in our community. Our key is to be prepared to handle any eventuality,” said Kevin Wisley, Syracuse Emergency Management.

“These cars can still haul products because they meet standards of federal regulations,” said Michael Bethge, CSX HAZMAT manager.

Reporter: “Do you think they are a safe car?”

Bethge: “They are a safe car.”

The CSX safety train will be making stops in Rochester, Buffalo, New York City, and Cleveland before heading through Indiana and to Chicago this summer. By the time the whistle stop tour is over, government officials may be close to fixing a problem that the National Transportation Safety Board first identified 20 years ago when it described the tankers as inadequate.

Bakken Crude, California Regulation, Crude By Rail, Emergency Readiness & Response, Federal Regulation (U.S.), Massive increase in crude-by-rail, Rail inspection, Tank car design, Train speed

Public Radio: Lawmakers Seek Ways to Address Oil Train Risks

Repost from Capital Public Radio News
[Editor: About halfway through this 2-minute Public Radio report, UC Berkeley Law professor Jayni Hein offers several ways in which state regulators CAN make effective contributions to public health and safety.  The 3-hour California Joint Legislative Oversight Hearing on Transport of California Crude Oil by Rail  can be viewed here.  – RS]

Lawmakers Seek Ways to Address Oil Train Risks

California Update
By Mark Prell & Capital Public Radio News , June 20, 2014

California lawmakers are taking a closer look at the risks posed by importing crude oil by rail. At issue is what the state can do to prevent and respond to oil rail accidents when so much regulation happens at the federal level.

Audio Report – LISTEN