The amount of crude oil being hauled on the nation’s freight rail lines is on the upswing. The oil and rail industries say that’s because of surging oil output from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale formation as well as a lack of pipeline capacity.
A December article from the American Association of Railroads says crude oil carloads increased from 9,500 in 2008 to an estimated 400,000 in 2013. And some of those carloads pass through the Rochester area on a CSX freight line.
The line bisects Monroe County and the City of Rochester, and it’s part of a rail corridor that CSX bills as the premier route for hauling crude from Chicago to Albany or Philadelphia. Both Albany and Philadelphia are emerging as key crude-oil transport hubs.
Andrew Lonthair, a lieutenant with the Rochester Fire Department, says that CSX tells the city what hazardous materials are passing through on its tracks. The information CSX provides includes a list of the 25 hazardous materials most frequently shipped through the city, he says. A few years ago, crude oil wasn’t on that list, he says, but it now occupies the No. 2 spot. (Other flammable materials are frequently shipped via rail; ethanol holds the No. 1 spot on the top 25 list, Lonthair says.)
A CSX spokesperson did not respond to questions for this story.
The issue here isn’t just that more crude oil is being transported via rail. The past year has seen a string of oil train accidents and derailments, many of which led to spills.
A few of these accidents resulted in explosions, which has led some federal agencies to warn that Bakken crude may be more flammable than conventional crude. As a result, some regulators, environmental groups, and communities are questioning the safety of shipping crude oil by rail.
The seriousness of a potential oil train accident has not escaped the attention of local emergency management officials. During meetings of the county-convened Local Emergency Planning Committee, members have discussed the risks posed by rail cars carrying crude oil, Lonthair says, as well as ways to prepare for and respond to an accident.
The Rochester Fire Department has made efforts to better equip and prepare its hazardous materials response team over the last few years, Lonthair says. And this week, Lonthair and other Rochester firefighters are attending a flammable liquids firefighting school in Texas, where they’ll learn techniques for battling petroleum and ethanol fires.
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This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2014.
The oil industry has pointed out in the past that the oil being produced in Canada will likely end up coming to the US via rail or ship if the Keystone pipeline is not approved. And they have made the point, ignored by environmentalists and legislators, that such modes of transport are both less safe and result in higher environmental risks than transporting the oil by pipeline. So while I feel for the people directly impacted by a rail accident, they need to point the finger of blame where it belongs.
For the most part, environmentalists have no interest in transporting crude in the best way; they do not want it transported at all. Many prefer to create a shortage to force people to change their way of life. They do not want transportation fuel made of crude, and they do not want electricity that comes from oil, gas, coal, or nuclear.
What shortage? We are producing more domestically than we ever have before. We import a lower percentage because we are actually starting to use less! The oil to be transported by the Keystone XL pipeline isn’t even intended for US consumption. It is Canadian oil being moved through our backyards , at our risk, to be sold on the global market. Canadian oil obtained in a way that is devastating Alberta. The toxic tailing ponds are already one of the biggest man made structures in the world and they are getting bigger every day.
You are right. I don’t want their oil transported at all. How about we build a pipeline to North Dakota instead so we can harvest the natural gas from the oil wells instead of burning it? We can’t replace fossil fuel power plants yet, but that doesn’t mean that we should let multinational companies like TransCanada ruin our water supplies in the name of “progress”!
CHLORINE GAS TRANSPORTATION SAFETY
First Responders ask federal administrations to consider adding secondary containment to rail tank cars used to transport chlorine gas, providing lifesaving safety to First Responders and the public they serve. See First Responders Comments at PETITION C KIT.