OIL TRAINS

Oil train derails under Seattle's Magnolia Bridge
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SEATTLE - Three tanker cars in an oil train from North Dakota derailed at a rail yard in Seattle early Thursday, but Burlington Northern Santa Fe says none of the oil spilled.

BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas says a locomotive and buffer car loaded with sand also left the rails about 2 a.m. at the Interbay yard as the train with 102 cars of Bakken oil was pulling out, headed for a refinery at Anacortes.

He says the train was traveling beneath the Magnolia Bridge at about 5 mph at the time. Two of the tankers are leaning. The other derailed cars remained upright. No one was injured.

"We looked over the tank cars (and) we haven't seen any release of product," said BNSF spokeswoman Courtney Wallace. "We've had our hazmat teams on the scene as well."

She said there is no danger to the public. The cause of the derailment is unknown.

The derailment comes as more oil trains move through the region and state agencies study the increased safety and environmental risks that may result.

Gov. Jay Inslee last month directed state agencies to evaluate the safety of oil transport in the state, effectively speeding up the timeline for a study already being conducted by the Department of Ecology and other agencies.

So?

Do you realize how many millions of gallons of fuel, oil, and hazardous chemicals travel every single day by road?

+1

We want to go to the gas station and fill our tanks. But we don't want pipelines, raillines, tankers, or trucks transporting it.

We want to turn on the electricity but we don't want dams, nuclear, coal-fired plants, wind farms, tide farms.

Makes it difficult when we want stuff but don't want the manufacture, transportation, or distribution of it to occur.

Oh, think we all want those things.....just not in "our back yard". I remember a nuke plant.....shove it down in Grays Harbor, out of the population centers.....use Chehalis water as a cooling source......grrrrr

I wonder why the nuke plant didn't go closer to labor forces, building materials, etc....like say.....Snoqualmie Valley, lot's of water and other things.........

Just to stir the pot, a little.........

Very true statement. Until people can get away from fossil fuels (which is not happening anytime soon) there needs to be a way to transport it. Nobody wants it in their backyard but everyone wants cheap fuels. Refineries don't really care for the trains but that is the only current viable way to move Bakken crude.

I can appreciate the irony of the human condition as well as anyone, but as has been stated twice in this thread, there are plenty of other modes of transportation available to "keep gas in our cars." We don't need rail transport to meet our domestic demand. Of course, crude by rail was never intended to bolster domestic supply, although that is how it's being sold, and apparently, some of us are still buying.

If you believe this is all about getting more crude to domestic refineries and faster, why do you suppose the railroads and oil corps are lobbying DC to repeal the ban on petroleum exports?

I don't know... Maybe this will prove beneficial to our local economies. One thing's for sure: all the public hearings are a North of Falconesque dog and pony show. This is definitely happening; public opposition is only making it more costly. Of course, when it's all over with and the tankers are breezing in and out of our ports, the costs will be handed down to us in the form of higher prices at the pump. Oh, yeah... On that note: what do you suppose will happen to gas prices when foreign demand starts cutting into our supply? Don't you suppose the cost of food and everything else for which transport is petroleum-powered will follow suit? I get how this helps Warren Buffet and Big Oil, but how was it supposed to help you and I again?

I think FF is on the right track.
Most of the oil is not for domestic use and even if it were shouldn't we have an expectation it is transported safely.
The oil companies and Warren B. are making record profits, we should expect high standards to avoid pollution and make sure public safety is not compromised and we shouldn't have to pay for it all at the pump.

The issue here is the aging fleet of tanker cars. If they can upgrade to newer DOT specification tanker cars the risks of explosions will be lowered. Phase out DOT-111 tankers

The oil in the train that derailed in Magnolia was bound for Anacortes for refining. Makes me think it was for local consumption.

But, if you want safer transport then elect officials who will apply the necessary rules and enforce them. And don't re-elect them when they "protect" business from unnecessary regulation.

Can you imagine how much damage would occur if a couple of rail cars full of oil derailed?

oh, wait

I can't even believe the Industry has the gall to request exports with all the crap going on in the middleast right now and if we didn't have this resource we would be right in the middle of it.

They want to export because somebody out there wants to buy it. So they can sell it at a profit. A bigger profit than if they sold it here. It's the 'Murican Way.