Posted on 05/19/2015 3:47:09 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
SIX days before last week’s deadly Amtrak derailment, a train carrying crude oil went off the tracks in rural North Dakota and burst into flames. Thankfully, no one was killed. But it should not take a deadly disaster — like the one that took 47 lives in the town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, in July 2013 — for us to grasp the risk from oil trains, which pass through many densely populated parts of the United States.
The Obama administration recently issued new safety rules for oil trains, to take effect in October. But it didn’t do the one thing many independent petroleum engineers say could immediately reduce the risk of a deadly disaster: require energy producers to remove more of the volatile gases that the oil contains when it comes out of the ground, before they load the crude into rail tankers.
This can be done easily at most wells. North Dakota recently required producers to extract some of these gases, which include propane and butane. The state is the epicenter of the new oil boom and was the departure point for most of the more than 400,000 oil tank cars that rolled across the United States in 2013.
But the North Dakota rule is still too lax, and instead of toughening it, the new federal rules focus on strengthening the tankers that carry the oil. That is a long overdue step that will take five years to complete. And already, the oil industry, which owns many of the tankers and will bear much of the cost of upgrading them, has sued to extend the deadline.
Oil companies have a financial stake in keeping the volatile gases in the oil. When the gas-laden oil arrives at refineries, the gases can be separated, processed and sold for added profit. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I was about to say, isn't there a solution that we've used before to transport oil across country.... :)
Roger that. No more “To hell with XL” crap. Build the friggin’ thing and we can all move to Beverly. NOT hills either.
In most instances, the tracks were there before the people moved in.
So not only does Warren Buffett get rich transporting all the oil on his railroad he is now a polluter because his trains derailed. And the libs want to tell us how to live?
Yeah, lots of little towns popped up along the track in response to it.
There is no railroad here anymore but my house sits on the spot where the local icehouse was. My yard is underlaid with bricks they used to slide blocks of ice off the lake into the icehouse and the track was right behind so the ice could be slid into train cars. There was a mill at the dam about 75 yards away, farms and logging all around.
And still nothing is being done about the tragedy of 35,000 deaths each year from automobiles...
Well, since they already have a Right-of-way for the tracks...
How about scrap the tracks, and build a pipeline instead?
George Soros makes $2 and a half billion every year the Keystone pipeline isn’t built.
That’s why Obama is blocking it.
Hey! Now listen! It is simple!
The Train Lobbyist are paying damn good money to keep their rail lines open. They don’t want pipes stealing their “entitlement.”
Children this is how Washington works. Forget all that Constitution BS.
The best Government you can buy.
Now go on back and vote for the “voice.” Your voice is not needed.
“When the gas-laden oil arrives at refineries, the gases can be separated, processed and sold for added profit. . .”
Excellent! Once again, the profit motive provides for our needs!
If you all want an /s it sure isn’t coming from me.
Of course there is . . . it’s called Amtrak.</sarcasm>
. . . and, to be serious, computer-operated vehicles.
And old railroad heads will still reference the “Icehouse” as a landmark, even though it’s been gone for 30+ years.
Ice, free for the taking, and properly stored, enough to last the year.
But now we have refrigeration and air-conditioning, which requires the energy from oil to produce. Progress, see?
Of course they do, because that'll be more work for union Democrat steelworkers.
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