Breaking: Another Oil Train Derails and Burns in North Dakota

[MineralMan]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/oil-train-derails-in-north-dakota-small-town-evacuated/ar-BBjgZjG

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A train carrying crude oil derailed and caught fire in Wells County, North Dakota on Wednesday, officials said, just days after the U.S. government announced sweeping reforms to improve safety of the volatile shipments.

The nearby town of Heimdal was evacuated after as many as many as 10 tank cars of a BNSF [BNISF.UL] train came off the rails, local media and fire officials said. There were no injuries, officials said.

A photo posted on Facebook by a local radio station showed flames and heavy black smoke from several tank cars that had derailed in a field.

Heimdal is a tiny town in central North Dakota located along one of the main rail lines heading east out of the giant Bakken oil patch. About two-thirds of all North Dakota oil production is shipped by rail, three-quarters of that to refiners on the U.S. East Coast.

According to radio reports, they've managed to pull the other tank cars away from the scene, but the fire is still burning and the town has been evacuated. This points out the high danger of transporting volatile crude oil by rail through the country. Oil trains, many carrying over a million gallons regularly go through the Twin Cities of MN and through major cities elsewhere in the country. It is a real and growing hazard.

[KamaAina]

1. So I guess Heimdal is German for Lac-Megantic

[MineralMan]

3. I don't know about that.

I do know that several unit oil trans pass through the city I live in every day. The St. Paul rail yard is full of oil tank cars as they transition to other destinations. That yard is immediately adjacent to downtown St. Paul. The other day, while heading for a storage facility near me, I watched one of those trains cross on a very old railway bridge above a busy commuter freeway. It was heading South, so it was a train with every tank car full of volatile crude oil.

As I watched, I wondered what would happen if it derailed on that overpass, which passes through a crowded residential suburb.

A million gallons of especially volatile crude oil travels on each of those unit trains of over 100 tank cars. After leaving St. Paul, MN, much of it travels right alongside the Mississippi River on its way to the gulf coast. The potential for an environmental disaster looms large, aside from the danger to heavily populated areas.

It's just a matter of time.

[KamaAina]

7. One of those puppies exploded in downtown Lac-Megantic, Quebec a couple of years ago

an engineer left the train for whatever reason and it rolled downhill and plowed into the town.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023231238

[MineralMan]

9. Yes, I know about that.

I'm worried for my own city, which is much more densely populated than that town. Oil trains pass right through the heart of St. Paul, MN, along the Mississippi River. Several a day, each transporting a million gallons of volatile crude oil.

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. CSX goes over a very old single track overpass 1/2 mile from our house.

This whole area has dozens of little towns that were built along these tracks at the turn of the century.
CSX announced it was carrying crude oil a few years ago.
Every time I hear the train rumbling I perk up until it is gone past.

[MineralMan]

12. Yes. Those trains are everywhere.

Cities and towns grew up along railroad lines. The railroads serve our cities. That's what makes this oil transport such a danger to the population of those cities.

[B2G]

2. So without a pipeline

how is it supposed to be transported?

[MineralMan]

4. An excellent question, indeed.

The oil will be transported. How it is transported is the question. When one of these million gallon trains derails in one of the major population areas they travel through, that question will be even more important.

I live in one of those areas. Between eight and ten crude oil unit trains passes through St. Paul, MN each day. They go to a huge rail yard, where they are made up into other trains heading in several directions. That rail yard is adjacent to downtown St. Paul, and the trains pass through crowded suburbs going to and from the city.

It's just a matter of time until a disaster occurs. Truly.

[B2G]

5. There are risks with any transport method

but transport we shall and must.

Minimizing the risks is the issue that should be being debated, not whether or not to transport. Not an option.

[MineralMan]

6. Yes. The oil will move.

Most pipelines, except those near cities, pass through rural areas. Most train transport travels between and into major cities and through all of those towns and cities that were built along the rail lines.

In terms of the risk to human beings, pipelines are far safer for transporting crude oil than trains.

[B2G]

8. Totally agree. nt

[starroute]

19. Pipelines threaten to destroy pristine rural areas

They have the potential to contaminate water supplies on which major cities depend. Even the coating on the outside of the pipes intended to keep them corroding can release toxins into the water supply.

They disrupt wildlife migration routes.

Once they go through a farm, the soil above them becomes unfarmable.

They run across steep slopes, causing destructive erosion, and across streams and rivers, putting fish at risk. They are a threat to the tourism and recreation on which many rural areas depend without supplying any local economic benefits in exchange.

Even land that taxpayers have paid to protect from development is open to being seized through eminent domain.

The construction companies that promise landowners to put things back almost exactly the way they were often leave destruction and polluted wells in their wake.

And where there aren't enough rural areas lined up in a row, they plow through shopping centers and suburban backyards.

"Rural areas" is not a synonym for "nobody gives a damn."

[JaneyVee]

16. Who's debating whether or not to transport?

Of course it will be transported. As for pipelines, they exist solely for the purpose of transporting oil, so it is a valid concern to oppose building new pipelines through pristine land. Tracks on the other hand serve many functions in the commerce trade. Perhaps we should pass an infrastructure bill to address a new innovative rail system, or at least update existing tracks.

[B2G]

17. The same people complaining about the pipeline

also complain about rail transport...and the fact that we even need to depend on crude. Well we do, so that's what needs to be evaluated.

[TheKentuckian]

20. If you get your fucking pipeline is transportation by rail going to be banned?

If not then what I expect to see is the trains will keep rolling and the pipeline will be used.

If Canada wants to move their sludge they can move it through their own fucking country to their own fucking shoreline and distribute it to the Chinese or whoever is buying it.

[malaise]

15. And that's the sad truth

Sadly

[MineralMan]

21. Yes. It would be far better if this oil was not needed.

It is, though, apparently, so it will be transported. The first major incident in a heavily populated area will be a wake-up call for many. The most likely place for that will be in Minnesota, since most of that oil passes through here on its way to other major population centers. Good luck to us all!

[Tommy_Carcetti]

10. Pam Geller just called herself a victim of this accident. nt

[pinboy3niner]

13. Asher Heimermann has set up a fund to help the community recover

Plus he's running for mayor.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

14. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are going to have a debate in front of the burning wreckage. nt

[sadoldgirl]

18. As far as I understood this from several

of Rachel's reports on this issue, one serious problem stems
from the dirty oil from the Dakotas.They don't clean it to the
extend other old oil well companies do. That is the reason that
it is far more flammable.
Perhaps the EPA should step in and demand a better cleaning
procedure.

I understand the worry, but am much more concerned about
the pipes breaking and polluting the huge necessary ground
water supplies.