Oil Train Derails And Explodes In Alabama

1,000,000 Strong Against Offshore Drilling

90-CAR OIL TRANSPORT TRAIN DERAILS AND EXPLODES in ALABAMA A 90-car train carrying North Dakota crude derailed and exploded in Alabama, leaving 11 cars burning and potentially bolstering the push for tougher regulation of a boom in moving oil by rail.' 'The accident happened in a wetlands area that eventually feeds into the Tombigbee River... Booms were placed in the wetlands to contain the spilled oil.... ARTICLE:

 

http://dgrnewsservice.org/2013/11/08/90-car-oil-transport-train-derails-and-explodes-in-alabama/

''The U.S. Natl Transportation Safety Board has issued safety guidelines on the tank cars known as DOT-111s, including a recommendation that all tank cars used to carry crude oil be reinforced to make them more resistant to punctures if trains derail.''

''DOT-111 rail cars ordered after October, 2011, have been manufactured to the new code, but the INDUSTRY HAS RESISTED SPENDING an ESTIMATED $1-BILLION TO RETROFIT NEARLY 300,000 EXISTING TANK CARS.''

EARTHWORKS

A 90-car train derailed and exploded in rural Alabama Friday, spilling its crude oil cargo into the surrounding wetlands and igniting a fire so intense that officials said it will take 24 hours to burn out. No one was injured.

Railroads are carrying 25 times more crude oil than they were five years ago.

Smoke rises from a number of cars that derailed and exploded from

Crude oil tank cars ablaze after train derails in Alabama

ALICEVILLE, Alabama (Reuters) - Several oil tank cars that burst into flames after a train derailed in rural Alabama were expected to keep burning into Saturday, potentially reigniting the push for tougher regulation of the boom in moving oil by rail.

Twenty-five of the train's 90 cars derailed near a 60-foot-long wooden trestle in the early hours of Friday morning, and a number were still on fire 18 hours later, operator Genesee & Wyoming Inc said. They were sending flames hundreds of feet high that could be seen from over 10 miles away.

 

 

November 08, 2013|Verna Gates and Edward McAllister | Reuters

Bold Nebraska

You never see these spills or derailments in the backyards of the Big Oil executives.

They're always in our backyard. Middle-class families are the ones who have to take on all the risk so the oil companies can get all the rewards. Pipelines and rail both carry risks.

So I hope with this latest one Pres. Obama and all the administrative offices that are responsible for pipe and rail safety get together and actually implement what we know are best practices. And Congress, has to fund the safety programs. We can't have some great ideas on paper but then no budget or trained people to actually keep our families safe. ...

The transportation of the oil and tarsands, whether it's by pipeline or rail, has got to slow down so we can catch up with safety and environmental programs. Expanding massive transportation of tarsands through Keystone XL is obviously not the answer.
—Jane Kleeb

 

 

 

W tanker train carrying crude oil burns after derailing in western Alabama outside Aliceville, Ala., early Friday.

 

 

A 90-car crude oil train derailed and exploded in Alabama early Friday morning, spilling oil and causing flames that shot 300 feet into the sky.

Eleven of the 20 cars that derailed are still on fire and are being left to burn down, a process which the train’s company, Genesee & Wyoming, said could take up to 24 hours. The derailment caused no injuries and the oil doesn’t appear to be a threat to nearby waterways, according to the company. The train was carrying oil from Amory, Mississippi, to a refinery in Florida. So far, it’s unclear how much oil has been spilled.

Shipping oil by train has been thrown into the spotlight recently, after a train carrying oil derailed and exploded in the town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, killing 47 people this July. Oil shipments by rail are surging as oil production increases — in 2012, U.S. railroads carried 234,000 car loads of crude oil, a substantial increase from the 5,912 car loads in 2007. The State Department is looking at rail as a potential alternative or supplement to the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport oil from the Alberta tar sands to refineries in the Gulf Coast.

Despite the lack of details, Reuters calls the Alabama incident one of the “most dramatic of its kind in the United States” since oil shipment by train began increasing a few years ago. The accident lends further evidence of the dangers of shipping oil by rail, which is also an expensive and carbon-intensive way of transporting fuel.

“[The accident] will provide very clear evidence of the potential risks for environmental groups and others opposed to the growth of crude by rail, and will likely increase pressure to tighten regulations,” Elena McGovern, Global Energy and Natural Resources analyst at Eurasia Group told Reuters.

Oil Train Derails And Explodes In Alabama

By Katie Valentine on November 8, 2013