Repost from Oregon Public Broadcasting [Editor: Would someone please get California candidates to talk about the pollution and derailment dangers of oil trains?? – RS]
Inslee, Bryant Agree To Disagree Over Oil Trains In Washington
By Emily Schwing Northwest News Network | Aug. 18, 2016 2:58 p.m. | Updated: Aug. 19, 2016 8:57 a.m.
Chris Hooper, right, of White Salmon watches the fire caused by a derailed oil train in Mosier, Oregon, near Hood River in the Columbia River Gorge on Friday, June 3, 2016. John Sepulvado/OPB
Washington gubernatorial candidates touched on the topic of oil trains during their first debate of the season in Spokane Wednesday.
Republican challenger Bill Bryant said oil trains are something he and incumbent Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee agree on.
“If they are going to be bringing in highly flammable material and bringing in oil, they better be bringing it in on cars that meet safety standards and on rails that are safe enough to transport that commodity,” Bryant said.
If elected, Bryant said he’d put a moratorium on any new state regulations. That’s why Inslee said he disagrees with his opponent.
“The very first thing I heard my opponent say today is ‘all regulations are bad.’ This is the only way we are going to get more safety on railroads,” Inslee said. “These sound bites can come back to prevent us from making progress.”
Inslee called for reduced train speeds, improved track inspections and support for electronic braking systems.
Spokane’s city council has spent the last month wrestling with whether local government can regulate the shipment of volatile crude oil within city limits. Debate over that question has grown since an oil train derailed in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge in June.
The candidates also debated over an economic development project west of Spokane that includes a casino. Inslee signed off on the project in June. He said the Spokane County project is part of his larger effort to bolster rural economies.
“It’s gonna be decades of work, there’s gonna be tons of economic development associated with this,” Inslee said.
The Spokane Indian Tribe expects to break ground next month on the casino, as well as shops, restaurants, a cultural center — and it’s happening a mile from Fairchild Air Force Base.
Inslee said he had meetings with high-ranking officials before he signed off.
“I was not going to build a casino and lose Fairchild. I was not going to do that,” Inslee said. “The guy in the Pentagon told me that and I’m taking that to the bank.”
Fairchild is the largest employer in Spokane County. Inslee’s Republican Challenger Bill Bryant expressed concerns about base expansion in the future.
“One thing I learned from the apple industry is you better make sure what you’re planting today, is what you want to harvest in four or seven years,” he said.
If elected, Bryant suggested he might develop a 10-year plan to work with the military.
Editor: The Benicia Independent endorses Don Saylor of Davis for Assembly District 4 this November (Don Saylor.org). Lynne Nittler’s letter speaks for me – see below. Another good candidate, Davis Mayor Dan Wolk, has expressed strong concerns about oil train safety and joined with the Davis City Council in opposing crude by rail, but has not risen to the level of diligence, outreach and follow-through that Mr. Saylor has shown on Valero’s proposal (DanWolk.org). Many thanks to both for their efforts. – RS
Yolo County Supervisor Don Saylor for California Assembly, District 4
By Lynne Nittler, in her email of May 15, 2016
Don Saylor for California Assembly District 4
Yolo County Supervisor Don Saylor stands out as an uprail public official committed from early on to stopping the dangerous transport of crude oil through our natural habitat and populated areas. He wasted no time in directing his staff to research and compose a letter insisting that uprail concerns had to be addressed in the EIR. On the draft EIR, Yolo County wrote a second letter detailing the impacts of the unsafe oil trains, and when the response was inadequate, added a third letter response to the revised draft EIR.
Meanwhile, as President of Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), Don Saylor also led the 22 cities and 6 counties of SACOG to respond to the regional threat of oil trains with a series of hard-hitting letters during the EIR process.
His deep concerns even took him to Washington DC where he conferred with our local Congressman John Garamendi on stabilizing crude at the loading site as perhaps the only acceptable method of making the Bakken crude safe to transport by rail.
Don continues to monitor the volatile issue closely, as 500,000 of the 2.4 million SACOG residents live at risk in the blast zone. Most recently, he took time to testify before the Benicia City Council in hopes of convincing them of the enormous impacts to uprail communities and to our state.
We are fortunate to have such a diligent public official. While an independent PAC of outside oil corporations including Valero as well as other PACS have intruded with huge campaign contributions to one candidate for the District 4 Assembly race (including Lake and Napa Counties, most of Yolo County, and part of Colusa, Solano, and Sonoma Counties ), Don Saylor has not been chosen for such outside support.
If elected, we can count on Don to work and vote as he always has for programs that benefit our region. Don Saylor will continue to keep a watchful eye on oil trains if he is elected to the CA Assembly.
Repost from the Benicia Herald [Editor: Representative Mike Thompson has been somewhat responsive when approached on oil train issues, but his position seems to presume that crude by rail can’t be stopped, and that the only thing we can do is to improve crude by rail safety. I support Mike on a lot of issues, but this challenge from a true progressive who wants to fight climate change and opposes fracking is worthy of notice. Contacted by phone just now, Nils Palsson assured me that he opposes crude by rail. I’m convinced that if asked, Mike Thompson would not. – RS]
Lake County community organizer enters race for California’s 5th District
MAY 13, 2016 BY NICK SESTANOVICH
Nils Palsson is a Democratic candidate for California’s 5th congressional district, which includes Napa County and portions of Contra Costa, Lake, Sonoma and Solano counties, including Benicia. (Courtesy photo)
Nils Palsson is a Democratic candidate for California’s 5th congressional district, which includes Napa County and portions of Contra Costa, Lake, Sonoma and Solano counties, including Benicia.
Having represented the area since 1999, Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Napa) is considered the favorite to win the June 7 primary. However, he will be facing opposition, even within his own party. Under California’s top-two primary system, the candidates who place first and second will compete in the general election, even if they are both from the same party. This leaves the possibility of Thompson running against a fellow Democrat with different ideals.
Enter Nils Palsson, a 30-year-old self-described community organizer from Lake County. Palsson has served as a communications coordinator for Transition US, a sustainability nonprofit out of Sebastopol. He has also served as a high school history teacher and is the host of “Wake Up and Thrive” on Lake County community station KPFZ.
Palsson describes himself as a “Berniecrat,” i.e., a candidate aligned with the views of presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT). In fact, Palsson was elected to serve as a pledged delegate for Sanders at the Democratic National Convention this July in Philadelphia.
Palsson’s platform concerns social, racial, and environmental justice for all with a special focus on getting money out of politics.
“Big money has taken over politics,” he said in a statement. “I am running for this office because we, the people, deserve a voice in government.”
To this end, Palsson says he does not accept campaign contributions from corporations or lobbyists.
“As an outsider to the political establishment, I bring a much-needed fresh outlook,” he said in his statement. “I take no Super-PAC contributions. My clear allegiance is to our people and planet: to Main Street, not Wall Street.”
Palsson also supports establishing a constitutional amendment to end Citizens United, the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling which argued that the government can not restrict independent political funds by nonprofit corporations.
“The reason we’re not getting so many of our needs met — from education and health care, to a fair economy and a real response to global warming is because there is a corrupt system of money in politics that we urgently need to address if we truly want to thrive,” he said.
As a father to 3-year-old Satya, Palsson credits his paternal instincts as the impetus for another major platform: fighting climate change.
“The climate crisis is very real, and harmful practices like fracking are polluting our groundwater,” he said in a statement. “The status quo is failing our children and grandchildren, failing future generations.”
Palsson believes that he can offer a real challenge to Thompson.
“We live in a progressive district,” Palsson wrote in a press release. “I believe the people here are ready to see our true values and needs represented in Congress.”
“I am just like the rest of the people in my district,” Palsson added. “I’m dealing directly with challenges like student debt and the housing crisis. I know how it feels to be a working-class parent — and I am ready to represent the working-class people of this district in Congress.”
Thompson and Palsson have one other Democratic opponent in the race: Alex Poling, a 26-year-old Democratic Emeryville resident and graduate of Michigan State University. On the Republican side, Carlos Santamaria of Napa will also be challenging Thompson. The primary will be held on June 7.
For more information on Palsson’s campaign, visit PeoplesVictory.us.
Repost from The Missoulian [Editor: Pay attention to Alberta! Changes there will send ripples all along the rails in the U.S., from the Upper Midwest to the East Coast, West Coast and Gulf Coast. Congratulations to Rachel Notley and the New Democratic Party! – RS]
Alberta election could send tremors through Montana economy
By Rob Chaney, May 09, 2015 5:30 pm
Alberta New Democratic Party leader Rachel Notley speaks on stage Tuesday night in Edmonton after being elected Alberta’s new premier. The NDP won a majority in the provincial Legislative Assembly by toppling the Progressive Conservative colossus that has dominated the province for more than four decades. Photo: NATHAN DENETTE, Canadian Press
Montana’s political seismograph didn’t rattle much last Tuesday when its neighbor to the north underwent a governmental earthquake.
But that could change in the coming weeks, as the citizens of Alberta absorb the magnitude of their replacement of Canada’s longest-standing political party rulers with a left-wing opposition pledged to look hard at its energy economy.
“The Progressive Conservative Party has been in power two years longer than I’ve been alive,” said University of Montana biology professor Mark Hebblewhite, a 42-year-old Alberta native. “I think this is a real response to the ongoing mismanagement of Alberta’s bounty. One thing that hit the nail on the head was how the province went from being overrun with money to crashing in another bust. People get really tired of it.”
The New Democratic Party took 53 seats in the Alberta Parliament in Tuesday’s election. Another traditional minority group, the Wildrose Party, surprisingly found itself in second place with 21 seats. The Progressive Conservatives held onto just 10 seats.
NDP party leader Rachel Notley was credited for a remarkable political ground game that unseated Progressive Conservative Party leader Jim Prentice – a man widely considered a future leader of all Canada. Prentice resigned from his post on election night and said he was at least temporarily leaving politics.
Alberta’s entire United States border runs along Montana, from the western edge of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park to the 110th Meridian north of Havre. The province and state share the spine of the Rocky Mountains and the beginnings of the great mid-continental prairies.
They also share a relatively recent surge in energy development. Over the past decade while Montana has exploited its Bakken oil and gas fields along the border with North Dakota, Alberta has been opening massive production in tar sands petroleum near Fort McMurray.
Oil from the tar sands has become both a political and social controversy.
New Democratic Party officials have questioned the need for the Keystone XL pipeline that would run south from Alberta, through a corner of Montana and down to refineries in Oklahoma and Texas. The Obama administration has stalled permitting of the international border crossing, while Montana’s bipartisan congressional delegation has supported it.
“If the Keystone XL doesn’t happen, the amount of rail traffic leaving Alberta would be impacted significantly from that decision,” said Bentek Energy senior analyst Jenna Delaney. “Currently, taking the Keystone XL out would increase petroleum unit trains by five a day out of Alberta. And Transport Canada officials say residents in Canada are very concerned with rail traveling through their communities.”
Moving petroleum by rail has become an issue in both Canada and the United States, signposted most recently by last week’s explosion of a group of oil tank cars near Heimdal, North Dakota.
Caryn Miske of the Flathead Basin Commission said the prospect of moving more oil trains along the southern border of Glacier National Park is under close scrutiny.
“We’re already seeing impacts from the amount of oil that’s moving around,” Miske said. “The number of trains and cars carrying oil has increased, and that’s really concerning, considering how many near-misses we’ve had.”
Burlington Northern Santa Fe has a freight line that runs out of Alberta into Montana at Sweet Grass, although there’s not much cross-border oil traffic there yet.
***
Delaney said another factor of the government change could be the NDP’s campaign pledge to revamp the province’s tax structure on energy development.
“They’re looking at increasing income taxes and royalty rates to corporations, which the oil companies aren’t happy about,” Delaney said. “The last time I was in Calgary, the atmosphere was already a little bleak. If taxes are raised on corporations, I don’t know how they might respond. Companies with offices in other places might shift people away from Calgary.”
Much of the province’s energy economy has extremely expensive initial start-up costs. Energy analysts have already been forecasting a drop in Albertan oil production as new projects slip below their break-even points with falling oil prices.
Delaney said that could have an impact on Montana’s economy, as the demand for megaloads of oil field equipment transported across the state stalls.
Longtime conservation activist Stephen Legault said the provincial government’s failure to manage its oil wealth led to great voter frustration.
“We’re drilling 20,000 wells a year in Alberta, and we’re $7 billion in the hole economically,” Legault said. “That’s largely because when oil goes below $75 a barrel, provincial coffers take a massive hit.”
The result has been a government unable to fix damage from the floods that ravaged Calgary in 2013, or even to send land management officials to cross-border conferences in Montana.
While the new government has majority control of Alberta’s Parliament, its influence over the provincial agencies could be a murkier matter. Those departments have had decades of one-party control appointing their directors and staffs.
“If I was south of the border looking north, I wouldn’t expect to see anything dramatic right away,” Legault said. “We’ve had five changes of government since 1905. The bureaucracy is so deeply entrenched after 45 years of one-party rule, it’s going to take years for a new government to put in place the people it wants to create change.”
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