Oil-train boom launches environmental battle

[hrmjustin]

Scott Waldman

A previously quiet increase in the amount oil moving through Albany by train is escalating into a rather loud controversy.

One reliable sign: A meeting at an elementary school on Feb. 12 about the volume of North Dakota crude moving through the capital drew a crowd of hundreds to protest and ask questions.

Another: The Cuomo administration is taking action.

Top environmental officials now say that the state plans to devote more resources to monitoring the practice of shipping crude oil by rail, including conducting a review of already-approved agreements with oil companies.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/02/8540859/oil-train-boom-launches-environmental-battle

[riversedge]

1. This is happening in other states including WI and MN

[dipsydoodle]

2. Before you had pipelines most oil was moved by rail.

.

[hrmjustin]

3. Thrre was a derailment.

http://www.lohud.com/article/20140225/NEWS02/302250047/Oil-train-derails-upstate-after-passing-through-Rockland?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Rockland%20County,%20New%20York

A CSX locomotive hauling 97 empty oil tank cars from Philadelphia to Chicago derailed near Kingston on Tuesday morning, raising fresh concerns about the safety of oil trains following several deadly derailments last year.

The oil train was traveling north on the River Line — the same 130-mile track that runs through Rockland — when it derailed about 9:30 a.m. in the Town of Ulster, about 70 miles north of New City. None of the tank cars went off the tracks and there were no injuries or spills, police said.