Category Archives: Environmental Impacts

Derailment, Environmental Impacts, Explosion, James River, Lynchburg Virginia, National Transportation Safety Board

NTSB Investigating Lynchburg, Virginia Crude Oil Derailment

Repost from The Legal Examiner

NTSB Investigating Virginia Crude Oil Derailment

Posted by Patrick Austin  |   May 27, 2014

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is taking charge of the investigation of an oil train on April 30 that was hauling crude oil through Lynchburg, Virginia (VA). However, it will be many months before any conclusions are reached and recommendations issued.

According to Investigator Jim Southworth, these incidents happen fast but they take a long time to go through. At this point, the NTSB is gathering facts before moving into analysis. Depending upon how complex the oil accident was, it could take 6-18 months before the report is completed.

csx

Personnel from the Federal Railroad Administration, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Lynchburg’s fire and police departments, labor unions, and CSX Transportation are helping with the investigation, he said.

Several working groups will look at train operations, communications, mechanics, the track and several other areas. These groups then will meet each day to share the information they glean. The preliminary investigation has shown that the train had 105 cars of crude oil and was traveling under the 25 MPH speed limit when the train derailed. Three cars were dumped into the James River.

A total of 13 cars on the CSX train derailed on April 30 at 2:30 PM as it rolled through Lynchburg. Three tankers broke out in flames and nearby residences and businesses had to be evacuated.

CSX removed all of the cars that did not derail, in coordination with local first responders. The railroad also is now doing an environmental assessment that includes air, water and land-based assessments of potential environmental effects.

Alberta Canada, Deformed fish, Environmental Impacts, Public Health, Tar sands crude

Photo essay: Tar-sands Country, Alberta, Canada

Repost from MSNBC
[Editor: This is a beautifully written and photographed documentary of the Alberta, Canada communities suffering under the grab for tar-sands bitumen, which Valero admits could allowably be part of its crude-by-rail import “mix” (in its diluted form, known as “dilbit”).  Read below, and click on the photo to see the photo essay.  -RS]

How Fort McMurray became an energy industry gold mine

By Olivia Kestin and Ned Resnikoff

Photo essay
Photos by Philippe Brault/Agence VU/Pictures from “Fort McMoney” directed by David DufresneyHighway 63 in North Alberta, Dec. 16, 2012. In the winter the road becomes entirely ice. It is called the "the highway of death" because the traffic is heavy and car crashes are deadly. On this road, approximately 150 miles north of Fort McMurray is Fort Chipewyan, one of the oldest communities in the area and home to native groups in North Alberta.

Whether you see it as the key to energy independence or the next step toward environmental catastrophe, tar sands oil’s transformative power cannot be denied. And nowhere is that power felt with more bracing immediacy than in the shale oil boomtowns.

Fort McMurray, in Alberta, Canada, is one such town. Once a sleepy rural village with a population of barely 2,500, “Fort Mac” now has 100,000 residents, many of whom work in the energy industry. The change began in 1967, when Suncor (then known as Sun Company of Canada) finished construction of its Fort McMurray oil sands plant. Since then, the town has practically lived and breathed black gold.

Today, Alberta exports over one million barrels of oil per day to the United States, and the energy industry accounts for over one quarter of the province’s GDP. The Keystone oil pipeline, currently the subject of a heated political battle in the United States, is just one of many pipelines which shuttle those millions of barrels into the United States around the clock. Even if President Obama acquiesces to the demands of environmental activists and blocks the Keystone XL pipeline extension, the blow would barely dent U.S. reliance on Alberta’s rapidly expanding tar sands operation. Fort McMurray, which rests atop the fruitful Athabasca tar sands deposit, is at the center of the boom.

That operation has done wonders for Fort McMurray’s economy, but that’s not all it has done. Tar sands oil is an especially hazardous fossil fuel, producing an estimated 12% more emissions than regular crude oil. Alberta health officials have confirmed that the cancer rate near oil sands is higher than expected, but the vice president of Alberta Health Services says there is “no cause for alarm.” Fishers have repeatedly found deformed fish in Lake Athabasca, near the oil sands.

Photojournalist Philippe Brault traveled to Fort McMurray to witness up close how the oil energy has reshaped nature and society there. His photographs document everyday life in the heart of an energy industry gold mine.

Brault’s photos are featured in the interactive web documentary, “Fort McMoney,” directed by David Dufresne and produced by Toxa, Arte, and the ONF (Canada). The multimedia series is an innovative part game part documentary where players step into the world of Fort McMurray.

DOT-111, Emergency Readiness & Response, Environmental Impacts, Federal Regulation (U.S.), Hazardous cargo transparency, Local Regulation, Rail routing, Rail Safety

NY Governor Cuomo sends letter to President Obama an hour before Lynchburg explosion

Repost from The Auburn Citizen, Auburn, NY
[Editor: See below for copy of Governor Cuomo’s letter and the New York State Transporting Crude Oil Report.  – RS]

Cuomo to President Obama: Better federal safety standards needed for rail transport of crude oil

April 30, 2014 • Robert Harding
Train Derailment
Firefighters and rescue workers work along the tracks where several CSX tanker cars carrying crude oil derailed and caught fire along the James River near downtown in Lynchburg, Va.., Wednesday, April 30, 2014. Police said that 13 or 14 tanker cars were involved in the derailment. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Shortly before a train carrying tankers filled with crude oil derailed and exploded in Lynchburg, Va., Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged the federal government to establish better safety regulations for the rail transport of crude oil to help prevent major accidents from occurring that could pose a threat to New York communities located along rail lines.

Cuomo sent a letter Wednesday to President Barack Obama calling for tougher federal regulations. In the letter, Cuomo included recommendations for the federal government, including new tank car regulations and updated environmental and contingency response plans. He also called for the removal of DOT-111 tank cars, a type of car that has been labeled “dangerous” because of the high risk of explosion if it derails carrying crude oil.

“As a result of the recent boom in domestic petroleum production, New York state is experiencing a dramatic increase in the number of crude oil trains passing through the state from production areas in the upper Midwest to refineries in the mid-Atlantic and Canada,” Cuomo wrote to President Obama. “This type of crude oil, known as Bakken crude, is highly volatile and is being transported in significant volume across the country by inadequate rail tank cars.

“New York and all the states subject to this crude oil boom are extremely vulnerable to the impacts of a derailment, spill, fire or explosion, as demonstrated by three catastrophic incidents in the last nine months involving such trains. I urge your immediate attention to this issue.”

The recommendations for the federal government were included in a report released Wednesday. The report, Transporting Crude Oil in New York State: A Review of Incident Prevention and Response Capacity, was prepared by a handful of state agencies after Cuomo issued an executive order in January.

While the report makes recommendations to the federal government for improving rail transportation safety, emergency preparedness and strengthening environmental protections, the agencies also recommended the state take action in these three areas.

The report also recommends industry changes, including implementation of a web-based information access system by rail companies to provide real-time information on hazardous materials. The agencies also called for an expedited risk analysis for crude oil to determine the safest and most secure rail routes for trains with at least 20 cars of crude oil.

While Cuomo said the state can take steps to be better prepared, he said it’s the federal government’s responsibility to regulate the industry.

“New York will continue to aggressively pursue measures that ensure its safety,” Cuomo wrote. “However, the fundamental responsibility for the safe transportation of crude oil across the country resides with federal agencies.”

Cuomo’s office distributed the governor’s letter to President Obama and the state report about an hour before reports of the train accident in Lynchburg, Va. The News & Advance in Lynchburg reports that an estimated 50,000 gallons of crude oil was spilled in the incident.

After learning of the train derailment, Cuomo issued a statement repeating his call for the federal government to take action.

“Earlier today, I wrote a letter to President Obama urging the federal government take immediate steps to bring much needed and overdue safety regulations to the crude oil transportation system. Just hours later, news comes of yet another serious oil train derailment, this time in Lynchburg, Virginia. Our thoughts and prayers are with any possible victims of this accident,” Cuomo said.

“This is the latest in a series of accidents involving trains transporting crude oil, a startling pattern that underscores the need for action. In addition to steps that states like New York are taking, the federal government must overhaul the safety regulations, starting with taking DOT-111 trains off the rails now. These trains travel through populated communities in upstate New York and we cannot wait for a tragic disaster in our state to act.”

Here is the letter from Cuomo to President Obama:

Gov. Cuomo’s letter to President Obama

Here is the state report on transporting crude oil:

New York State Transporting Crude Oil Report

Bakken Crude, Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Environmental Impacts, Fugitive Emissions

Vancouver Action Network: monitoring air emissions from Bakken crude oil trains

Repost from Vancouver Action Network
[Editor: take a look – this is a revealing – and shocking – indication of the kind of fugitive emissions we can expect from crude oil tank cars.  NOT in Benicia!  – RS]

Vancouver Action Network Oil Train Monitoring with FLIR Gasfindir GF320 hydrocarbon viewing video camera

Published on Apr 19, 2014

Vancouver Action Network is monitoring the air emissions from Bakken crude oil trains using a FLIR Gasfindir GF320 hydrocarbon viewing video camera.  Our monitoring program is part of Washington State Train Watch 2014 which runs from April 16-27 and has participants in Spokane, the Columbia River Gorge, Washougal, Camas, Vancouver, Fruit Valley, and Everett.  We are recording the number of oil and coal trains which come through our communities.  Go to vancouveractionnetwork.blogspot.com for more info or find us on Facebook.  We have internships!