In the past several months alone, North America has seen five major oil train derailments and explosions. Communities across the country, including along the West Coast, are scrambling to cope with the threats these “bomb trains” pose—from their radically under-insured collision and damage risks to the delays they cause for local traffic to, of course, their potential to violently explode along tracks running past schools, downtowns, homes, and local businesses.
Early next month, I’ll be speaking on the costs and consequences of increased oil train traffic for the city of Anacortes, Washington, home to the Tesoro and Shell refineries, where millions of gallons of volatile crude oil arrive daily by train. I’ll also be exploring the larger regional picture of the Northwest grappling with an unprecedented influx of coal, oil, and gas export schemes. As community and local leaders contemplate the possibility of a massively larger fossil fuel sector, they deserve the facts on what this industry means.
- What: “The Thin Green Line: Anacortes Faces the Costs and Consequences of Oil Trains,” a presentation and Q&A with Sightline Institute policy director Eric de Place
- When: Wednesday, June 3, 2015; 7 PM. Doors open at 6:30, with coffee, tea, and dessert served. (Please note: Seating is on a first come, first served basis.)
- Where: Depot Arts Center, 611 R Avenue, Anacortes, WA (map)
Questions? Contact Serena Larkin. Please feel free to spread the word to friends and family, either by sharing this article or through Facebook or Twitter.
I wish I could come but there’s no Skagit Transit home after the event. Do it on a weekend maybe or video the event?
Hey Joe, I just learned that Whidbey Island has free, regular transit serving the entire island (one of America’s largest islands)…paid for by a fraction of 1% added to the sales tax (can’t remember exact percentage). Fantastic idea! For a tiny, tiny tax, we could have awesome public transit in Skagit (something our Legislature can’t figure out in the vehicle-oriented Transportation Package!). Sounds like a long-overdue solution to auto-dependency in Skagit County! Let’s join together and demand great public transit at an upcoming Commissioner’s meeting. Who’s “in”?
None of the current oil or coal trains have gone through the NEPA process and that will continue for many more trains unless the Washington Corp of Engineers complys with NEPA. That is very unlikely to happen since the Columbia Riverkeepers sent a freedom of information request to the Washington DC office of the Corp. After the foia was rejected, they sued and got the email where the local Corp Office was told not to do NEPA. If this continues there will be no limit on oil and coal trains going through Washington since the local Corp says their responsibility on land is the immediate area of the refinery or the docks.
What needs to be done is a programmatic EIS as described in the CEQ 40faqs in 1980. I have been working with NEPA for over 40 years and I have believed for many years that the BLM was the most corrupt federal agency, but at least they went through the motions. The Corp just refuses to do NEPA regardless of the impact to the young, the old, and the sick, as well as the potential consequences from a derailment.
One lawsuit would stop this.
Moreover, none of the BombTrain facilities (major additions to Major Sources of Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs)). That’s illegal. Lawsuit please Earth Justice (given that Governor Inslee refuses to issue a BombTrain Moratorium until public-safety and environmental issues are resolved). Lawsuits & non-violent civil disobedience are the only strategies that will end Industrial Homicide.