Posted on 02/18/2014 5:00:35 AM PST by thackney
At least 10 times since 2008, freight trains hauling oil across North America have derailed and spilled significant quantities of crude, with most of the accidents touching off fires or catastrophic explosions.
...Experts say recent efforts to improve the safety of oil shipments belie an unsettling fact: With increasing volumes of crude now moving by rail, it's become impossible to send oil-hauling trains to refineries without passing major population centers, where more lives and property are at risk.
Adding to the danger is the high volatility of the light, sweet crude from the fast-growing Bakken oil patch in Montana and North Dakota, where many of the trains originate. Because it contains more natural gas than heavier crude, Bakken oil can have a lower ignition point. Of the six oil trains that derailed and caught fire since 2008, four came from the Bakken and each caused at least one explosion. That includes the accident at Lac-Megantic, which spilled an estimated 1.6 million gallons and set off a blast that levelled a large section of the town.
After recent fiery derailments in Quebec, Alabama, North Dakota and New Brunswick, companies and regulators in the U.S. and Canada are pursuing an array of potential changes such as slowing or rerouting trains, upgrading rupture-prone tank cars and bolstering fire departments. Company executives were expected to offer a set of voluntary safety measures in the coming days at the request of U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.
...Since 2008, the number of tanker cars hauling oil has increased 40-fold, and federal records show that's been accompanied by a dramatic spike in accidental crude releases from tank cars. Over the next decade, rail-based oil shipments are forecast to increase from 1 million barrels a day to more than 4.5 million barrels a day, according to transportation officials.
(Excerpt) Read more at rigzone.com ...
Not to start trouble, but has anyone suspected or investigated any evidence of right wing sabotage ?
I believe in sabotage..... no doubt about it
The November 8, 2013 derailment near Aliceville, AL is still under investigation. Took place on/near a trestle. With an increase in tank car shipments will come an increase of risk and accidents. Not a problem to sneeze at; not a problem to sensationalize.
It stands to reason that if the government prevents a needed pipeline, it is willing to incur the environmental damage that rail transport of crude oil will do.
Blaming the oil for railroad accidents is like blaming the cars for the ferry sinking.
The Lac-Megantic accident was caused by events not allowed for by the (apparent) railroad policy, the North Dakota derailment by colliding with another train which had derailed. Neither incident was the fault of the cargo.
That light crude is more volatile than heavy crude seems like a no-brainer, but the LNG, propane, and other substances commonly shipped by rail are even more volatile.
Without an idea of how frequent shipping accidents were before the 40-fold increase in rail shipments, there is no baseline to provide a basis for safety comparisons.
All you stinking HU-mans should die freezing & starving in a field (because caves are protected pink-nosed bat habitat).
And don’t forget to dig yourself a hole to put your corpse in, either. And don’t disturb the rare orange-tendriled earthworm while you’re digging. Or disturb any holy Native American archeological sites...
Tell it to Obama’s pal Warren Buffet, Ay Pee.
The government should be forced to be first in line when their policies increase costs.
So, as the price of petroleum fuels rise, their budgets for petroleum fuels should remain the same.
Then let the screaming commence.
As it stands now, the government has mandated that the peasantry should destroy its small engines with ethanol. When the small engines purchased for the government by the peasantry are destroyed in the process, the government merely shows up at the door again with gunthugs, and extracts MORE money from the peasants to fix or replace the government small engines which were extracted from the peasantry at gunpoint in the first place.
Make them wait a couple of years.
It’s not the trains that are dangerous, its the oil. (obviously sarcastic).
If only we had a safer and more environmentally friendly way to transport crude over long distances that would also spur economic growth, increase our supply and potentially lower the cost of energy/fuel.
Well, they could try that NEW technology called PIPELINES to deliver the crude.................
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