Coming soon to a town or city near you: A derailment of a train carrying crude oil

[cali]

Just like the one that destroyed much of the town of Lac Megantic last night.

Is rail-bound crude oil a disaster waiting to happen?
EnergyWire: Friday, May 31, 2013

The U.S. shale oil and gas boom has brought business to railroads still reeling from declining coal shipments. But as freight operators such as Warren Buffett's Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC (BNSF) breathe a sigh of relief, some are feeling uneasy about oil companies' rush to the train tracks.

"The Northeast has old, dilapidated infrastructure. We have neglected it for decades, and now, all of a sudden, there's this renaissance of railroads coming back with oil," said Fadel Gheit, managing director and senior analyst covering the oil and gas sector at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. "When you increase the traffic, you increase the chances of accidents."

A slew of train derailments is raising questions about how safe and reliable oil trains are until aging tracks along the East Coast are upgraded. The latest train wreck happened shortly after 2 p.m. on Tuesday outside of Baltimore, when a CSX Corp. freight train hauling chemicals hit a truck and derailed, caught fire and sent a ball of flame into the air. The explosion blew a hole in a nearby industrial building. Last year, a coal train jumped the tracks in Ellicott City, Md., and killed two women.

<snip>

Oil-by-rail surge

A record 97,135 carloads of crude oil were shipped across the United States in the first quarter this year, the AAR reported yesterday. That's a 166 percent increase over the 36,544 carloads originated over the same period in 2012.

Much of the growth is concentrated in the U.S. Northeast, where refineries lining the corridor from the Delaware River to New York Harbor have displaced imports with railed-in domestic crude. East Coast refineries, including Phillips 66's Bayway facility in New Jersey, have limited access to pipeline infrastructure and barge in the majority of their oil. In January, Phillips 66 announced a five-year deal with energy supplier Global Partners LP to rail in about 50,000 barrels per day of Bakken crude on a take-or-pay basis to lessen dependence on foreign Brent oil.

<snip>

http://www.eenews.net/stories/1059982047

How Rail is Reshaping America’s Energy System
http://openmarkets.cmegroup.com/5877/how-rail-is-reshaping-americas-energy-system

A train pulling over 70 tankers of crude oil derailed and burst into flames in Canada early Saturday near the U.S. border.

It jumped the tracks in the small town of Lac-Megantic in the province of Quebec, according to officials in Maine, who received a request for help at around 3 a.m. ET.

The inferno spread to nearby homes, and authorities evacuated the center of town and a home for the elderly, CNN affiliate Radio-Canada reported. Thick fuel spilled into the Chaudiere River.

<snip>

http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/06/world/americas/canada-train-derailment-fire/

How will this event impact the President's decision on the xl pipeline?

[bluedigger]

1. Pipeline supporters will see it as an opportunity.

The real question is how much will oil profiteers spend to fight necessary regulation and infrastructure rebuilding and development devoted to the transport of volatile chemicals?

[avaistheone1]

2. I hope the memory of this disaster is burned into everyone's mind who has influence on the XL

pipeline coming into the U.S. That pipeline does not belong in the U.S.

[cali]

3. this incident will be used to push the pipeline

they'll say that transporting oil by train is unsafe and we need the pipeline

[Brickbat]

4. So maintain the tracks and the equipment.

Which is what should have been happening for the past 20 years to keep the workers safe.