NoTeaPartyPleez
Gold Member
- Dec 2, 2012
- 11,826
- 1,912
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Hmmm.....Maybe the pipeline is the lesser of two evils. 'Cuz this country just ain't goin' green....Not in our lifetime.
Secrecy of Oil-by-Train Shipments Causes Concern Across the U.S.
Crude-by-Rail Has Jumped in Shale Boom, but Towns en Route Don't Get Data They Need for Safety
Secrecy of Oil-by-Train Shipments Causes Concern Across the U.S. - WSJ.com
Emergency responders in Cincinnati know that trains full of crude oil have been rumbling through their city; they can see mile-long chains of black tank cars clacking across bridges over the Ohio River.
But they don't know enough to feel prepared for the kinds of fiery accidents that have occurred over the last 10 months after oil-train derailments. How many of the 100 trains that pass through residential neighborhoods and warehouse districts daily are carrying oil, for example? And when crude is carried, is it the kind that federal investigators have linked to explosions?
"We have no idea when trains are moving through and when they aren't," said Thomas Lakamp, special operations chief for the Cincinnati Fire Department. "The railroads aren't required to report to us."
A first step toward limited disclosure takes effect next month.
But secrecy still cloaks the rapidly expanding business of shipping crude by rail, leaving local officials from Portland, Ore., to Toronto struggling to obtain details about oil shipments. Driven by long-standing railroad-industry fears about stirring local protests or terrorist attacks, there is no central repository for information on oil trains or other hazardous materials. Nor are there easy-to-find maps of train routes from the oil fields of North Dakota and Texas to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico and the East and West coasts.
An emergency order from the U.S. Transportation Department in June will start requiring railroads to alert states about oil trains originating in North Dakota. But the rules, which follow accidents involving oil from North Dakota's Bakken Shale in such unlikely locations as Lynchburg, Va., and Aliceville, Ala., already are coming under criticism. Some critics say the new rules are inadequate, while others worry that any disclosures will increase the likelihood of sabotage.
The dearth of information partly reflects the surging popularity of oil trains, in which roughly 100 crude-laden tankers are strung together. In 2008, it would take four days for railroads to move 100 tank cars of oil. Today, oil trains of that size depart every two hours, according to industry and government statistics. The Energy Department estimates that 1 million barrels of oil a day ride the rails across the U.S., more crude than Libya, Ecuador or Qatar exports daily.
Federal safety regulations were tightened in 2009 to require railroads to conduct detailed yearly analysis to determine the safest routes for the most hazardous shipments, including radioactive materials, explosives and deadly chlorine and anhydrous ammonia. But oil isn't included, even though each tank car of crude holds the energy equivalent of two million sticks of dynamite or the fuel in a widebody jetliner.
Secrecy of Oil-by-Train Shipments Causes Concern Across the U.S.
Crude-by-Rail Has Jumped in Shale Boom, but Towns en Route Don't Get Data They Need for Safety
Secrecy of Oil-by-Train Shipments Causes Concern Across the U.S. - WSJ.com
Emergency responders in Cincinnati know that trains full of crude oil have been rumbling through their city; they can see mile-long chains of black tank cars clacking across bridges over the Ohio River.
But they don't know enough to feel prepared for the kinds of fiery accidents that have occurred over the last 10 months after oil-train derailments. How many of the 100 trains that pass through residential neighborhoods and warehouse districts daily are carrying oil, for example? And when crude is carried, is it the kind that federal investigators have linked to explosions?
"We have no idea when trains are moving through and when they aren't," said Thomas Lakamp, special operations chief for the Cincinnati Fire Department. "The railroads aren't required to report to us."
A first step toward limited disclosure takes effect next month.
But secrecy still cloaks the rapidly expanding business of shipping crude by rail, leaving local officials from Portland, Ore., to Toronto struggling to obtain details about oil shipments. Driven by long-standing railroad-industry fears about stirring local protests or terrorist attacks, there is no central repository for information on oil trains or other hazardous materials. Nor are there easy-to-find maps of train routes from the oil fields of North Dakota and Texas to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico and the East and West coasts.
An emergency order from the U.S. Transportation Department in June will start requiring railroads to alert states about oil trains originating in North Dakota. But the rules, which follow accidents involving oil from North Dakota's Bakken Shale in such unlikely locations as Lynchburg, Va., and Aliceville, Ala., already are coming under criticism. Some critics say the new rules are inadequate, while others worry that any disclosures will increase the likelihood of sabotage.
The dearth of information partly reflects the surging popularity of oil trains, in which roughly 100 crude-laden tankers are strung together. In 2008, it would take four days for railroads to move 100 tank cars of oil. Today, oil trains of that size depart every two hours, according to industry and government statistics. The Energy Department estimates that 1 million barrels of oil a day ride the rails across the U.S., more crude than Libya, Ecuador or Qatar exports daily.
Federal safety regulations were tightened in 2009 to require railroads to conduct detailed yearly analysis to determine the safest routes for the most hazardous shipments, including radioactive materials, explosives and deadly chlorine and anhydrous ammonia. But oil isn't included, even though each tank car of crude holds the energy equivalent of two million sticks of dynamite or the fuel in a widebody jetliner.
