Category Archives: Crude By Rail

Bay Area Refineries, Climate Change, Crude By Rail, Take Action

CRUDE – inspirational speeches & videos

May 21, 2014 Roger Straw

Repost from C.R.U.D.E. (Crockett-Rodeo United to Defend the Environment)

INSPIRATION: Speeches and Educational Forum Film clips

This page has select video recordings of teach-ins from the 2013-14 Sunflower Alliance speakers series as well as the keynote speaker for the 350 BayArea DIrty Energy Clean Energy conference, Stanford University’s Dr. Marc Jacobson. Film clips from the Sunlfower Alliance forums (shown below) feature the following speakers: Antonia Juhasz (investigative reporter, oil industry analyst and author); Greg Karras (refinery specialist and senior scientist with CBE); Marilaine Savaard (spokesperson from the Lac Megantic Citizens Committee); Diane Bailey (senior scientist, Natural Resources Defence Council); Mayor Gayle McLaughlin of the City of RIchmond; Pennie Opal Plant (Idle No More) and, last but not least, community activists Marilyn Bardet (Benicia), George and Lyana Monterey (Pittsburg) and Nancy Rieser (Crockett/Rodeo)

But first…

A MOMENT OF INSPIRATION FROM THE 2014 GOLDMAN ENVIRONMENTAL AWARDS (San Francisco)

THE ROBERT KENNEDY JR KEYNOTE SPEECH: For 25 years the Goldman family has been honoring grassroots environmental activists from all over the world. This year, Kennedy opened the awards ceremony. His voice was hoarse but his words and spirit were passionate. Kennedy pulled no punches and basically blew the top off the Opera House.

For all of you battle-weary activists out there, take heart! There ARE folks out there — no different from you or me — who fight the Davy and Goliath battles and prevail!

Here are the 2014 award winners: http://www.goldmanprize.org/recipients/current Here is Kennedy’s speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac86elWP-l0

SUNFLOWER ALLIANCE CRUDE BY RAIL COMMUNITY FORUMS

Sunflower Alliance sponsored educational forums in Berkeley, Martinez, Pittsburg and Richmond informed the public about the dangers of crude by rail and the local refinery expansion projects, namely: Chevron (Richmond), Phillips 66 (Rodeo) Valero (Benicia) and Wespac (Pittsburg). Below are links that will give you access to speaker content from the Sunflower Alliance forums in both RIchmond and in Berkeley. These film clips are really the next best thing to being there!

girl with gas mask

To see presentations made by the 5 people below (filmed at the Bobby Bowens Center in RIchmond), click here http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/video_clips_forum_on_crude_by_rail

Antonia Juhasz (leading oil industry analyst, author of Black Tide: The Devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill and The Tyranny of Oil: The World’s ,Most Powerful Industry – and What We Must Do To Stop It)
Marilaine Savaard (spokesperson for the Citizens Committee of Lac-Megantic Quebec, site of the devasting oil train explosion that wiped out the center of town and claimed 47 lives)
Gayle McClaughlin (City of RIchmond Mayor who has taken on Chevron)
George Monterrey (a community organizer from the Pittsburg Ethics Council, one of two organizations who have taken on the Wespac infrastructure project)
Pennie Opal Plant (Idle No More, SF Bay Solidarity and the Connect the Dots Refinery Corridor Healing Walks)

To see presentations made by the 5 people below (filmed at the Berkeley Ecology Center) click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgpCKeWaLhk&list=PLpBEkz110SpOb-DDgp70S6Cd6swBTBoA0&index=2

Greg Karras (senior scientist from Communities for a Better Environment/CBE)
Marilyn Bardet (Community Activist from Benicia, fighting the Valero project)
Diane Bailey (senior scientist, Natural Resources Defense Council)
Lyana Monterrey (activist, Pittsburg Defence Council organzing around the WesPac infrastructure project)
Nancy Rieser (activist from Crockett, one of many folks dealing with the Phillips 66 project in Rodeo)

If you keep watching…you will see more clips from a “Call to Action” sponsored by the group, Benicians for a Safe and Healthy Community.

WATCH THIS SPACE FOR KEYNOTE SPEECH BY STANFORD PROFESSOR MARC JACOBSON AT MAY 2014 THE DIRTY ENERGY/CLEAN SOLUTIONS CLIMATE CONFERENCE IN THE SF BAY AREA

While we wait for the presentation to go up on the web, enjoy this video of David Letterman interviewing the professor! Click the link below to watch the Late Show segment.

http://vimeo.com/83279421

Bay Area, Benicia CA, Crude By Rail, Martinez CA, Pittsburg WesPac, Richmond, SafeBenicia.org, Shell Oil, Take Action, Tesoro, Valero Benicia Refinery

Martinez to Benicia: Oil Refinery Protest Draws About 100 Demonstrators

May 19, 2014 Roger Straw

Repost from the East Bay Express
[Editor: Many thanks to the East Bay Express for excellent coverage of this colorful and important event (below). Benicia old timers were heard to say that sleepy little Benicia has probably NEVER seen a protest demonstration like this. Check out two facebook pages for great photos of the day: facebook.com/stopcrudebyrail AND facebook.com/events/220829548127114/?ref=22. – RS]

East Bay Oil Refinery Protest Draws About 100 Demonstrators

Jean Tepperman — Mon, May 19, 2014

Accompanied by a four-kayak flotilla and a fifth-generation Martinez resident on horseback, about one hundred environmental activists marched seven miles from Martinez to Benicia on Saturday to protest the local toxic pollution and global climate impact of Bay Area oil refineries. The march was spearheaded by a Bay Area group affiliated with Idle No More, an organization of Canadian First Nations people fighting development of the tar sands oil fields in Alberta and other environmentally destructive projects on their traditional lands.

Kelly Johnson

Specific targets of the protest were proposed expansion projects at the Chevron (Richmond), Valero (Benicia), and Phillips 66 (Rodeo) refineries, a crude oil transportation terminal in Pittsburg planned by energy infrastructure company WesPac, and the major investment of Shell (Martinez) in the Canadian tar sands mines. The Saturday march was the second of four planned Refinery Corridor Healing Walks — the first, from Pittsburg to Martinez, was held in April, and future walks are planned for June and July, ending up at Chevron in Richmond. The series of walks aims to “connect the dots” to “bring awareness to the refinery communities, invite community members to get to know one another, and to show support for a just transition beyond fossil fuels,” according to the group’s website.

At a gathering at the Martinez Regional Shoreline before the march, a winner of this year’s Goldman environmental prize, South African Desmond D’Sa, described the high rates of leukemia, cancer, and asthma in his home town of Durban and the community’s struggles against Shell Oil there, urging the crowd to “fight them (refineries) wherever they are.” Penny Opal Plant, of the East Bay Idle No More group, said she only recently began to conceive of the refinery corridor as a total area suffering from the “immense devastation” caused by oil refineries.

Richmond residents have long protested pollution from Chevron, most recently the toxic explosion that sent 15,000 seeking medical treatment in August 2012. Benicia residents have also organized to oppose environmental hazards. In the last year, local groups have also formed in Pittsburg, Crockett-Rodeo, and Martinez to protest refinery expansion and transportation plans, including major increases in the amount of crude oil to be carried by rail through the Bay Area and beyond.

Describing the dangers of mining, refining, and transporting oil, and looking ahead to a future free from fossil fuel, Opal Plant said, “We are Mother Earth’s immune response awakening. We’re born at this time to do this thing.”

Kelly Johnson

The group’s route first went through the Shell refinery, then over the bridge to Benicia, with a view of the Valero refinery there. From a hilltop vista point next to Carquinez Strait, Benicia activist Marilyn Bardet pointed out refineries and planned oil industry project sites, as well as the environmentally Suisun Marsh. Railroad tracks leading to the Valero refinery, she said, go right through the marsh. A spill of tar sands crude oil, she added, would be impossible to clean up because the oil is so heavy it would sink and cause irreparable damage.

The next Refinery Corridor Healing walk is scheduled to go from Benicia to the Phillips 66 refinery in Rodeo on June 14.

Bakken Crude, Crude By Rail, Local Regulation, Tesoro

Vancouver City Council urged to oppose Tesoro oil terminal

May 19, 2014 Roger Straw

Repost rom The Columbian
[Editor: The resolution is expected to pass. – RS]

In Our View: Stopping the Oil Terminal

Vancouver City Council should formally adopt its opposition to proposed project

May 19, 2014

After months of limbering up, members of the Vancouver City Council have taken a swing at a proposed oil terminal at the Port of Vancouver — and smacked one out of the park. Councilors have prepared a draft resolution weighing in on the deal reached last year between port officials and Tesoro Corp. and Savage Companies. They have opposed the proposal in no uncertain terms and have urged government entities that have a say in the matter to rule against it.

The draft resolution will be discussed by the council during a workshop Monday and will receive a public hearing on June 2; council members are expected to vote on the resolution June 16. And while the city has no official decision-making capacity regarding the oil terminal — which would handle up to 380,000 barrels of crude oil per day, arriving by train from the Bakken formation in North Dakota — it has effectively distilled the arguments against the idea. Among the items included in the resolution’s 37 “whereas” statements:

• “Human error, acts of nature and unforeseen disasters are beyond the control of measures proposed for the Vancouver oil terminal project and could have devastating effects on the entire community.”

• There have been several well-documented derailments and explosions of trains carrying Bakken crude, including one in Quebec that killed 47 people.

• The city has invested heavily in a proposed Columbia Waterfront Development, a $1.3 billion project that would result in commercial, residential, and recreational outlets along the banks of the Columbia River — just upriver from the terminal site and in the shadow of the rail tracks used by oil trains.

Each of these is an important aspect deserving of consideration, but the most valid argument from city officials is this: “Whereas the City has a paramount interest in the health, safety and welfare of its citizens and believes that the development of the proposed Tesoro Savage crude by rail oil terminal is contrary to the health, safety and welfare of its citizens and business community.”

These talking points have been presented previously by some on the city council and by many members of the public. But formal adoption of the resolution by council members (four of the seven members have expressed opposition to the terminal) would go a long way toward stopping it in its tracks. The state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council is reviewing the proposal and will make a recommendation to Gov. Jay Inslee, who will have the final say regarding approval. The city council’s resolution urges both EFSEC and the governor to decline certification of the terminal, and it also urges federal and state lawmakers to tighten regulations regarding the transportation of crude oil.

Most intriguingly, council members request that the Port of Vancouver terminate its lease with Tesoro and Savage. The ability of port officials to do that remains open to interpretation — in part because the lease released to The Columbian under a public-records request contains heavily redacted portions. It is difficult to assess the legal obligations of the port under such a veil of secrecy, which is another reason to question the terminal proposal. If Tesoro and Savage cannot trust the public to know the details, it’s unlikely the public will trust the companies to act in the best interest of the community.

The reasons for opposing the oil terminal are sound and well-considered, having undergone months of scrutiny and discussion. The Vancouver City Council would be wise to formally adopt its opposition.

Crude By Rail, Lac-Mégantic, Rail Safety, Train speed

CEO hopes town where 47 died will OK oil trains

May 17, 2014 Roger Straw

Repost from The San Francisco Chronicle, Biz & Tech

CEO hopes town where 47 died will OK oil trains

David Sharp, Associated Press | May 16, 2014

Paul Chiasson, AP – FILE – In this July 6, 2013 photo, smoke rises from flaming railway cars that were carrying crude oil after it a train derailed in downtown Lac Megantic, Quebec, Canada. A large swath of the town was destroyed after the derailment, sparking several explosions and fires that claimed 47 lives. John Giles, top executive of Central Maine and Quebec Railway, that purchased the railroad responsible for the derailment, said Friday, May 16, 2014 that they plan to resume oil shipments after track safety improvements are made.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The company buying the assets of a railroad responsible for a fiery oil train derailment that claimed 47 lives in Quebec plans to resume oil shipments once track safety improvements are made, its top executive said Friday.

John Giles, CEO of Central Maine and Quebec Railway, said he hopes to have an agreement with officials in Lac Megantic, Quebec, within 10 days that would allow the railroad to ship nonhazardous goods, restoring the vital link between the railroad’s operations to the east and west of the community.

The company plans to spend $10 million on rail improvements in Canada over the next two years with a goal of resuming oil shipments in 18 months, he said.

“In the interest of safety, and I think being sensitive toward a social contract with Lac Megantic, we have chosen not to handle crude oil and dangerous goods through the city until we’ve got the railroad infrastructure improved and made more reliable,” he told The Associated Press.

The oil industry is relying heavily on trains to transport crude in part because of oil booms in North Dakota’s Bakken region and Alberta’s oil sands.

In July, a train transporting Bakken oil was left unattended by its lone crew member while parked near Lac Megantic. The train began rolling and sped downhill into the town, where more than 60 tank cars derailed and several exploded. The accident killed 47 people and destroyed much of the town. Three workers were charged this week in Canada with criminal negligence.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper wants the railroad and Lac Megantic residents to work together on a final plan.

“Any plan the company has should take into account the tragedy the people of Lac Megantic have gone through and should be done in collaboration with the administration of the city,” said Carl Vallee, a spokesman for the prime minister.

Transportation Minister Lisa Raitt said only that she was monitoring the situation.

Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche, who had no comment on Friday, previously told the new operator that she wanted the railroad to be re-routed around the downtown.

News that the new railroad is already talking about resuming operations upset Yannick Gagne, owner of the cafe-bar that was at ground zero of the tragedy.

“People are still in distress, in pain, facing financial problems, and we’re talking about the train company starting up,” the Musi-Cafe owner said.

Giles said he intends to move slowly and understands the community’s concerns. He said he hopes to convince the people of Lac Megantic that the rail is safe enough for shipments of dangerous goods by this fall. He said he wouldn’t press for crude oil shipments until later.

“I want to get the railroad in position that by January 2016 that I can at least begin to compete for potential crude business moving east-west,” Giles said.

What business may be available at that point is unclear, the company said.

New York-based Fortress Investment Group was the winning bidder for the assets of Hermon, Maine-based Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway, which declared bankruptcy after the disaster. Central Maine and Quebec Railway closed on the sale of U.S. assets on Thursday and is expected to close of the Canadian assets in a couple of weeks.

Giles made his comments Friday in a telephone interview from Bangor, where his company had called former Montreal, Maine and Atlantic workers for a two-day meeting to talk about safety and operations.

He said the rail is in rough shape, with speeds reduced to 10 mph in many sections in Canada. He said the goal is to improve the track to safely increase train speeds to 25 mph. He also said he has no plans to operate trains with a single crew member.

With repairs, the company can transport crude safely, Giles said.

“The railway is important to the community, people, jobs and commerce,” he said. “We believe and we’ve proven … that we can handle every type of commodity safely and efficiently.”

___

Associated Press writer Rob Gillies contributed to this report from Toronto.