Major oil train safety requirement passes Wash. state Senate
Oil trains passing through Seattle, Spokane and other cities would have to limit potentially explosive vapors to less than 9 pounds per square inch, under legislation passed Monday on a largely party line vote by the Washington State Senate.
The Senate vote comes as a reaction to federal inaction. The federal government has for years failed to adopt a nationwide vapor standard for crude oil shipped by rail, particularly Bakken crude oil from North Dakota.
Shipments by rail bound for northern Puget Sound refineries have skyrocketed since the first refinery-bound oil train passed through Seattle in September of 2012.
The trains pass where people live. They go through downtown Spokane, through a tunnel and along the Seattle waterfront, and pass Edmonds, Marysville the Swinomish Indian Reservation and other Puget Sound communities.
"These large shipments of extremely flammable fuel run through the heart of our state, starting with my community of Spokane," said Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig, D-Spokane, lead sponsor of the legislation.
"If the federal government won't act to protect public safety and adopt a safer national standard, we will adopt our own. There is just too much to lose, for people and for our environment."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/major-oil-train-safety-requirement-passes-wash-state-senate/ar-BBUnuvG
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