Another
“Safe” Rail Car Explosion
By
Ann Werner
Another day, another exploding rail car transporting Bakken crude oil. This time it happened three miles south of Galena, Illinois on Thursday, March 5. Two weeks ago, on February 17, it was in Fayette County, West Virginia.
Both explosions happened on model 1232 rail cars, which are
hailed as newer, “safer” models.
Fortunately, there were no deaths
associated with the explosions, although a West Virginia homeowner was treated
for smoke inhalation suffered when his house burned down.
According to the Association of America Railroads, rail
shipment of oil has increased from 9,500 carloads in 2008 to 500,000 in 2014.
The jump is attributed to the huge increase of production in North
Dakota’s Bakken shale oil patch.
Yet, Republicans in Congress continue to fight safety regulations.
Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Railroads has
pronounced the industry to be “very safe” and has worked to delay legislation
designed to make rail cars carrying oil safer. Because Republicans have never
met a regulation they didn’t hate.
It’s right about here where oil industry apologists jump in screaming that this is the reason we need the Keystone XL Pipeline so we can “safely” transport all the filthy crude from Canada straight through the mid-section of our country.
I
guess since Keystone is transporting Canadian crude, that means we’d need an
additional pipeline to transport the Bakken crude. Same thing for the Marcellus
Shale in New York. I suppose the Barnett Shale, the Eagle Shale and the newly
discovered Cline Shale, which has been described as “the Eagle Shale on steroids,” in Texas could
share a pipeline. That way, we wouldn’t have to worry about these disastrous
explosions, right? Safer and cleaner, that’s the mantra.
Not
so fast. I found this map published in the New York Times on
September 9, 2011, so we’re talking several years ago, which illustrates
pipeline spills that occurred from 1990 through June of 2011. Since then, as we
all know, there have been more.
An
article penned by Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity, in the
Huffington Post published on January 18, 2015 states: “A new analysis of
federal records reveals that in just the past year and four months, there have
been 372 oil and gas leaks, spills and other incidents, leading to 20 deaths,
117 injuries and more than $256 million in damages.”
Our
country is already crisscrossed with oil pipelines and the cost of accidents
has been high. We don’t need another pipeline. What we need is to take our
focus away from fossil fuels.
And
before all you fossil fuels lovers out the start telling me how stupid I am and
how we can’t possibly replace oil with renewable energy, I say this: Nobody
ever said we could do it overnight, so yes, we still need oil in the near
future.
But
it is time to stop giving subsidies to the oil and gas industry because those
industries have been doing just fine, even in the latest downturn, which now
seems to have come to an end, if the prices at the pump are any indication.
It
is time to stop touting fossil fuels as the energy of the future because they
are the energy of the PAST. It is time to devote our energies and our financial
support to new, clean renewable technologies that will help to reverse the
disastrous effects of climate change and create American jobs.
One last thought. For those who may be tempted comment about
how right I am and then start touting the benefits of nuclear power – WRONG! As
we approach the fourth anniversary of the ongoing disaster at the Fukushima
Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, with no end in sight, I say CAN IT! Nuclear is too
dirty to consider. Be patient. I am marking the anniversary of the worst
nuclear accident in history with an article which I will publish early next
week.
Ann Werner is a blogger and the author of CRAZY and Dreams
and Nightmares. You can view her work at ARK
Stories. Visit her on Twitter @MsWerner and Facebook Ann Werner