Railways involved in a rash of accidents, derailments, fires.....

Stop Ethanol Trains Through Our Communities

www.vancouversun.com/news/Railways+involved+rash+accidents+derailments+fires+Canada+recent+months/9126011/stor

Railways involved in a rash of accidents, derailments, fires in Canada in recent months

By Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun, Postmedia filesNovember 5, 2013

The aftermath of a Sept. 25 train derailment near Landis, Sask., that spilled oil and forced the closure of a nearby school.

Photograph by: Canadian Press Files , Vancouver Sun, Postmedia file

Serious rail accidents in Canada since May 2013:

Oct. 19: Thirteen CN tanker cars - four laden with crude oil and nine carrying liquefied gas - came offthe rails just after midnight in the hamlet of Gainford, about 80 km. west of Edmonton. A massive fire ensued.

Oct. 17: Residents in the northwest Alberta town of Sexsmith were forced from their homes after four CN rail cars carrying anhydrous ammonia left the rails. The cars remained upright and there were no leaks.

Oct. 7: Four empty tanker cars that had been used to carry jet fuel went offthe track in Brampton, Ont. A CN employee suffered minor injuries and the derailment caused commuter delays for GO Train travellers.

Sept. 25: Seventeen CN rail cars, some carrying flammable petroleum, ethanol and chemicals, came offthe tracks near the village of Landis, in western Saskatchewan, in the middle of the night. A nearby school was closed as hazardous material crews cleaned up spilled oil. No one was injured.

Sep. 11: Eight cars of a CP train carrying a diluting agent used in oil pipelines derailed at a southeast Calgary rail yard. There were no injuries and no leaks from the cars, which were left lying on their sides. More than 140 homes were evacuated briefly.

July 27: A CP locomotive and seven tanker cars carrying oil left the tracks in Lloydminster, which straddles the northern Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary. Some diesel spilled from the locomotive and was contained. RCMP said nothing spilled from the cars, no one was injured and no evacuations were necessary.

July 8: An ammonia leak from a train caused the evacuation of roughly one-quarter of the population of the small northern Ontario town of Gogoma. No one was injured.

July 6: A runaway train of 72 tank cars loaded with crude oil crashed and exploded in the centre of Lac-Mégantic, Que., killing 47 people and destroying half the downtown area. The train, owned by Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, was unmanned at the time.

June 27: Seven cars derailed as a bridge over the flood-swollen Bow River in Calgary collapsed when a CP train tried to cross it. Five cars carried petroleum products, one was filled with ethylene glycol and one was empty. No spills or injuries were reported but Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi demanded answers.

June 2: Eleven CP rail cars derailed on a trestle bridge near Wanup, east of Sudbury, Ont. There were no injuries, but the cars were carrying containers of consumer goods and about half of them entered a nearby river, prompting a drinking-water advisory.

May 21: Five cars on a CP train derailed near the village of Jansen in southeastern Saskatchewan and one of them spilled more than 91,000 litres of oil. There were no injuries.

 

 

Wall St. Exploits Ethanol Credits, and Prices Spike

Stop Ethanol Trains Through Our Communities

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/business/wall-st-exploits-ethanol-credits-and-prices-spike.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

Wall St. Exploits Ethanol Credits, and Prices Spike

Jay Paul for The New York Times

The Chesapeake, Va., operations of TransMontaigne, an oil and gas transportation company that Morgan Stanley bought in 2006 and which has generated biofuel credits for it.

By GRETCHEN MORGENSON and ROBERT GEBELOFF

It was supposed to help clean the air, reduce dependence on foreign oil and bolster agriculture. But a little known market in ethanol credits has also become a hot new game on Wall Street.

The federal government created the market in special credits tied to ethanol eight years ago when it required refiners to mix ethanol into gasoline or buy credits from companies that do so. The idea was to push refiners to use the cleaner, renewable fuel, or force them to buy the credits.

 

A few worried that Wall Street would set out to exploit this young market, fears the government dismissed. But many people believe that is what happened this year when the price of the ethanol credits skyrocketed 20-fold in just six months, according to an analysis of regulatory documents and interviews with more than 40 people involved in the market, including industry executives, brokers, traders and analysts.

      

Traders for big banks and other financial institutions, these people say, amassed millions of the credits just as refiners were looking to buy more of them to meet an expanding federal requirement. Industry executives familiar with JPMorgan Chase’s activities, for example, told The Times that the bank offered to sell them hundreds of millions of the credits earlier this summer. When asked how the bank had amassed such a stake, the executives said they were told by the bank that it had stockpiled the credits.

 

A spokesman for JPMorgan, when asked about the exchange with the executives, disputed the account, saying the bank does not trade ethanol credits for a profit in the way it trades other securities, but is registered to deal in credits through its energy business. From time to time, the spokesman, Brian J. Marchiony, said in a statement that the bank also purchased credits “on behalf of clients who need to fulfill their E.P.A.-mandated obligations,” though it had not done so in the past year.

 

But other market participants, including Thomas D. O’Malley, chairman of PBF Energy in Parsippany, N.J., identified JPMorgan Chase and other financial institutions as being active sellers of the credits this year. He said the institutions had helped transform an environmental program into a profit machine, contributing to the market frenzy this year. “These things were designed to monitor the inclusion of ethanol in the gasoline pool,” Mr. O’Malley said. “They weren’t designed to become a speculative item. For the life of me I can’t see the justification for it.”

 

While banks are by no means the largest player in ethanol credits, Wall Street’s activity in this market reflects a larger effort by financial institutions to exert their influence over loosely regulated markets for basic commodities, from aluminum to oil. The opacity of the ethanol credit market makes it difficult to determine the extent to which large financial actors have profited.

 

The banks say they have far less influence in the market than others are suggesting, and are doing nothing wrong. But the activities, while legal, could have consequences for consumers. In the end, energy analysts say, the outcome will be felt at the gas pump — as the higher cost of the ethanol credits gets tacked onto the price of a gallon of gasoline. (The credits, which cost 7 cents each in January, peaked at $1.43 in July, and now are trading for 60 cents.)

 

The Valero Energy Corporation, a refiner that owns thousands of gas stations, says the squeeze in ethanol credits might cost it $800 million. PBF Energy, also a refiner, puts its bill at about $200 million. A review by The Times of a federal registry of nearly 1,500 businesses and individuals in the renewable fuel market found big Wall Street banks as well as a handful of people with troubled legal histories among the participants. Several high-profile cases of fraud have emerged.

 

Scott Mixon, the acting chief economist of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said in an interview Friday that the issue of banks’ involvement in this market was something the agency was tracking and might look into more deeply because of the ethanol component. The commission regulates the commodities futures market, including trading in ethanol and gasoline.

      

Though the ethanol credits are traded by many major investment houses, they were created not on Wall Street but in Washington, on Capitol Hill and at the Environmental Protection Agency. At its inception, the so-called Renewable Fuel Standard was promoted as a means to reduce the nation’s reliance on foreign oil, fight global warming and provide a boost to farmers. The rules call for a set amount of ethanol, most of which is made from corn, and other renewable fuels to be blended with fossil fuels each year, with quotas assigned to individual refiners and importers.

 

Great article! Read the rest here:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/business/wall-st-exploits-ethanol-credits-and-prices-spike.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&hp

Freight Trains

Massachusetts communities have NO control over the hazardous cargo.

This horrific tragedy highlights the threats posed by RAIL FREIGHT SHIPMENTS and the lack of regulations.

Stop Ethanol Trains Through Our Communities

What insurance coverage is required in US?

Tanker cars are owned by the shippers and other freight cars are owned by railroads. Railroads are “common carriers” which must carry these shippers’ cargoes, even though they have no control over the safety standards of the tanker cars carrying them.

VIDEO

How the oil spill is being cleaned at Lac-Mégantic

The Globe and Mail

PublishedTuesday, Jul. 16 2013

Reporter Kim Mackrael joins Hannah Sung to discuss the oil spill at Lac-Mégantic and efforts to clean it up

VIDEO

How will the MM&A bankruptcy affect the families of Lac-Mégantic victims?

The Globe and Mail

PublishedThursday, Aug. 08 2013
 

Justin Giovannetti joins Hannah Sung to discuss how the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic bankruptcy filing will affect families' and businesses' lawsuits against the railway.

Crews work in the area of the derailed tanker cars in Lac-Mégantic on July 14, 2013. The train derailment and subsequent fires and explosions destroyed much of the downtown area of the picturesque Quebec town. (Peter Power/The Globe and Mail)

Canadian Transportation Agency approved MM&A’s coverage

KIM MACKRAEL and JUSTIN GIOVANNETTI

LAC-MEGANTIC, QUE. — The Globe and Mail

PublishedSunday, Aug. 11 2013

 

The railway whose train crashed in Lac-Mégantic last month had its insurance coverage approved by a federal agency earlier this year.

 

Montreal, Maine & Atlantic filed for creditor protection in Canada and the United States on Wednesday, saying it is unable to deal with growing environmental cleanup bills and other claims related to the disastrous derailment.

 

 

Court documents filed by the company show that its insurance policy covers it for third-party liabilities of up to $25-million.

Faced with a cleanup bill the company estimates will exceed $200-million, as well as additional lawsuits from those affected by the crash, court documents make it clear that the insurance policy will scarcely begin to cover the fallout from the derailment.

In a quarterly report in the first week of August, MM&A’s insurance company revealed that the average short-line railroad in North America holds $32-million in insurance.

Insurer XL Group has so far declined to pay for cleanup costs because it says it wants to prioritize victims’ claims, leaving the province of Quebec to foot the bill.

An estimated 47 people were killed when an MM&A oil train jumped the tracks in the centre of Lac-Mégantic on July 6. One-third of the village was evacuated as downtown smouldered for several days.

MM&A’s insurance coverage was approved by the federal Canadian Transportation Agency when MM&A first began to operate in Canada in 2002. The company has provided the CTA with certificates of insurance every following year, including in 2013.

The CTA is an independent, quasi-judicial tribunal and economic regulator for the transportation industry that is governed by federal legislation. It determines railway costs, approves railway construction and handles rail-related complaints.

The agency issued a certificate of fitness for MM&A in 2002 that allowed the company to begin operations in Canada. The certificate indicated that the agency was satisfied the company had adequate third-party liability insurance for its operations, a spokeswoman said.

Jacqueline Bannister said this week that the CTA was aware of MM&A’s decision to file for creditor protection. She said the agency is currently looking at the adequacy of MM&A’s insurance coverage for its continuing operations.

MM&A indicated in its creditor protection filing that it wants to continue operations while the courts determine what its creditors will receive.

“The Agency may suspend or cancel [MM&A’s] certificate of fitness if it determines that the railway’s insurance coverage is no longer adequate,” Ms. Bannister wrote in an e-mail.

More Related to this Story

• In Lac-Mégantic, anger and resignation greet MM&A’s money woes
• MM&A service continues on ‘as required’ basis after Lac-Mégantic disaster
• The beleaguered railroader of the Lac-Mégantic tragedy

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canadian-transportation-agency-approved-mmas-coverage/article13706469/

 

 

Ethanol Trains in Your Community?

How many communities could cope with this level of emergency and the massive water consumption? How many are prepared?

Stop Ethanol Trains Through Our Communities

What can we possibly do in large derailments when fire departments are asking - what is in the cars, cannot get the foam to where it is needed, lucky it happened at night in an area where there are less people ..

Train derailment, Hayes, Kansas Tuesday, July 16
http://hdnews.net/news/Trainfollow072113

Train wreck, fire under investigation

7/21/2013

By RANDY GONZALES

In the chaotic first minutes after a Union Pacific freight train derailed early Tuesday morning, the first order of business for the Hays Fire Department was to determine what was contained in the 18 cars that were derailed.

A train bound for Denver from Salina with three locomotives and 79 cars was diverted off the main track and collided into the rear of a stationary train on a side track at approximately 1:25 a.m. at the rail yard near the railroad crossing at Eighth and Vine. Ten cars from the main train derailed, as did four cars from the sitting train and four cars located next to the sitting train on an adjacent spur.

"In the accident that happened, you have all these train cars derail, in a big pile -- what's in the pile? That's the key," said Hays Fire Chief Gary Brown. "We're sitting there in the dark, massive fire and black smoke, and a big pile of twisted rail car wreckage. What is in the pile that's burning? That's the question we try to answer."

Freight trains carry a list of the contents in the cars they are transporting, but in their haste to get out of the locomotive, the three crew members did not have that list. Not long after, however, Union Pacific faxed a list of contents.

The train contained 20 cars carrying ethanol -- a volatile, flammable liquid. None of those cars derailed, but the fire department wanted to contain the fire so it didn't spread to those cars, Brown said.

"If an ethanol car was leaking, it would probably have a running fire that would be difficult to contain and control," Brown said. "As the fuel came out, we would just try to prevent it from spreading to other things."

It was Brown's understanding the ethanol cars in Tuesday's derailment were full.

"If the car fails when it's full, it's called a Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion," Brown said. "It'll fail, and that burning liquid will spread."

The Hays Fire Department, assisted by the Ellis County Rural Fire Department, the Ellis Fire Department and Victoria Fire Department, was able to prevent that from happening in Tuesday's accident. Firefighters poured 5,000 gallons of water per minute on the fire for an estimated five-and-a-half hours.

"The bottom line, if it's an ethanol car involved in a wreck, you want to keep it cool so it doesn't blow up," Brown said.

Hays Water Plant Superintendent Jim Cooper estimated 1,650,000 gallons of water was used to douse the blaze. He said it took about two days for the city to recover from the high water usage in fighting the fire.

"Most of that water came out of reserves," Cooper said. "We were flowing right at 300,000 gallons a minute, and even at that, we lowered our Sternberg tower by about 10 feet, probably took 4 feet or so out of the north tower, took a foot-and-a-half, 2 feet out of our reservoirs. That's where most of that water came from."

Initially, the fire department brought in the airport crash truck, which has the greatest foam-making capability. However, the truck couldn't get the foam to every place the fire was burning.
"Plan B was to keep everything cool, and let the fire burn itself out," Brown said.

The National Transportation Safety Board had three investigators on the scene Tuesday. A final report on what caused the accident could take as long as 18 months, said NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway.

There will be several areas investigators will examine, including looking at the rail cars in the accident and their contents, inspecting the train rails, gathering dispatch information, and interviewing the crew.

"That's all part of what they do once they are on the scene," Holloway said.

The main rail line reopened Tuesday evening. Once NTSB clears the scene, Union Pacific can begin cleanup at the site, said UP spokesman Mark Davis.

"Cleanup-wise, could take up to several weeks," Davis said.

The city was fortunate in where the accident took place, Brown said.

"If there's a good place to have a train derailment and fire, this was probably a good place, because at that time of night there were very little people around; the businesses were not occupied, traffic was light," Brown said.

"Obviously, it would have been different if it had been further into the downtown area. There would have been a greater problem for us to deal with. So, that worked in our favor."


http://hdnews.net/news/Trainfollow072113

Governor Vetoes Legislation That Would Have Halted Ethanol Trains

Governor calls for a two year moratorium to allow development of disaster response plans

Posted by stannenb on Jul 14, 2013.

 

Governor Deval Patrick Friday vetoed legislation that would have effectively ended a plan by Global Petroleum to complete their "virtual pipeline", the rail transport of ethanol from the midwest to their storage and blending facility in Chelsea. This rail route would bring ethanol unit trains - mile long assemblages of 60-80 tanker cars - through densely populated communities of eastern Massachusetts including Cambridge, Somerville, Chelsea and Revere.

In order to complete their rail route, Global's terminal required significant rehabilitation and modernization and, due to its location on the banks of the protected tidelands of Chelsea Creek, Global needed a "Chapter 91" license from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The legislation vetoed by Patrick would have prohibited the DEP from issuing a Chapter 91 license to any ethanol blending and storage facility located near a dense population center, a categorization that would have included Global. Prior to this veto, Global had announced that, due to community concerns, it was withdrawing its current Chapter 91 application.

Citing no examples, Patrick's veto message states that the vetoed legislation would "have the effect of significantly constraining the transport of ethanol in Massachusetts" and "interfere with marine terminal operations and potentially impact existing licenses throughout the state."

Patrick's message recommends, instead, two actions.

First, the permanent ban on Chapter 91 licenses would be replaced with a two year moratorium on "the addition of new routes of ethanol transport by rail in certain port areas."

Second, this two year moratorium would be used by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) to "develop a comprehensive ethanol transport response plan for all municipalities that accommodate the transport of ethanol by rail." Patrick's proposed legislation would mandate that MEMA develop a methodology by which the "entity transporting ethanol by rail" would be assessed the costs of developing the plan as well as the funding for the risk mitigation methods called for in the plan.

Far from being an effort to force rail companies to pay the actual costs of the transportation of hazardous materials, the legislation instructs municipalities and agencies to apply for federal grants for funding the measures needed to keep their populations safe. Patrick's veto message does not address the specifics of this funding mix, nor does it explain why it calls federal funding for safety measures "subsidies" for the municipalities when it remains taxpayer dollars subsidizing the costs of private transport of hazardous materials.

Despite the setback for Boston-area activists, their victory would not have stopped ethanol trains from continuing to enter Massachusetts at the New York border, run through the state to Worcester and turning south to Providence, RI. Patrick's safety and funding proposal, directed at the entire state, addresses concerns of other communities through which ethanol transport would have continued.

The ethanol industry exists due to a Federal mandate requiring the blending of biofuels with gasoline and supported by favorable tax treatment. As drought in the midwest have increased the price of corn and gasoline usage has decreased, the economic viability of ethanol has been increasingly questioned.

In June, a bipartisan group of Senators introduced the "The Renewable Fuel Standard Repeal Act", saying that the ethanol mandate is increasing the cost of both food and fuel, and that the Federal government's unwillingness to suspend the mandate in light of the midwest drought forced them to call for its repeal.

http://cctvcambridge.org/EthanolTrains6




 

Massachusetts: Every Community with Freight Lines Needs to Read This!

Middleboro was blind-sided recently by the state's plans to re-introduce 'high speed' commuter trains on old freight lines.

Let's not be blind-sided by what's traveling through our neighborhoods.

Too many have accepted the false rhetoric that oversight/regulation/enforcement stifles business and we have allowed government to be slashed and deregulated, jeopardizing our safety.

It's time to protect ourselves and our communities!

This could be US!

Stop Ethanol Trains Through Our Communities

A very useful and insightful commentary regarding rail transport of hazardous materials from a former rail engineer. Please read

http://www.montrealgazette.com/touch/story.html?id=8652746

Opinion: As a former rail engineer, I need to speak out

By James Goodrich, The Gazette July 12, 2013

 

 

Some 25 people are dead and other 25 missing as a result of what happened last Saturday in Lac-Mégantic — and investigators and media are looking for answers as to what caused this accident. Among other things, they are looking into railway-industry operating practices.

I used to work for one of Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway’s predecessor companies, Iron Road Railways, as well as two other railroads in Colorado and New England. I have been a freight conductor, yardmaster and locomotive engineer — and I need to speak out.

In my view, what happened in Lac-Mégantic is linked to the continent-wide, 30-year erosion of rules, procedures, equipment and infrastructure in the rail industry, and a culture of corporate acquisition by non-railroad interests that has led to deferred maintenance and deep cost cutting.

The first fact to consider is that this train in Lac-Mégantic had 72 cars of oil on it — and a single crew member. That equals 46,285 barrels of oil in cars that carry approximately 102,000 litres each.

By contrast, the tanker trailer you see on the highway is carrying about 34,000 litres or 214 barrels of product. Thirty years ago, most trains had five-man crews — three on the head of the train and two on the rear in the caboose. Now there are mostly two man crews on the head end, with few exceptions, one of those apparently being the MMA.

There are many hazardous materials that cannot move on the highway and thus move by rail. This train was by definition a “Hazmat” train, and yet I notice that media reports that I have seen in the U.S. have reported that there were 5- and 10-mile-per-hour track-speed limits on the rails in the area where the train was parked. Five miles per hour (or 8 kilometres per hour) is an extremely slow order speed for rail, even in areas between Nantes and Lac-Mégantic where there are major differences in elevation above sea level. Even in the Rocky Mountains, rail beds are carefully designed so that track speeds are rarely less than 15 mph. The only other reason I can think of for a speed this slow would be known problems with rail track in the Lac-Mégantic area. I have only seen order speeds of 5 mph twice — after flash floods in Colorado, and in nearly abandoned Boston yards where no rail maintenance was being done at all.

This is not just an issue for rural Canada. On the Springfield Terminal Railroad (now Pan Am), I used to pull cars of hydrocyanic acid and chlorine through the suburbs of Boston. Policy-makers should take a close look at the emergency-response guidelines for the evacuation radius of those materials. Imagine the implications for accidents in major cities.

I was a proud member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and I followed the rules, sometimes at great personal cost. I worked for and left three railroads because the personal costs were too high, and yet I have not been this upset since I went to the funerals of two co-workers killed in a derailment on Tennessee Pass in 1996. The railroad unions have been gutted in the past three decades, but if they cannot find their voice now, after the terrible accident in Lac-Mégantic, then they deserve irrelevance.
 

We all need to speak out for the sake of the people who move our planes, trains and trucks with inadequate support and respect for their health and welfare. We need to speak out for the safety of those who live close to our transport infrastructures and to renew our critical railway infrastructure to make up for deferred maintenance and decay. We also shouldn’t let Lac-Mégantic be turned into a sales pitch for pipelines. Pipelines do not carry hydrocyanic acid and chlorine and other hazardous materials, and they will not save you in the middle of the night. The men and women I worked with will.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/opinion/Opinion+former+rail+engineer+need+speak/8652746/story.html

 

BREAKING NEWS: Horrifying Train Derailment

We simply CANNOT allow Ethanol Trains to travel through densely populated Massachusetts cities for this reason.

See information below and PLEASE, call the Governor's Office to sign the legislation.



BREAKING: Major fire after train carrying oil derails in Quebec town near Canada-US border



Quebec town is evacuated after a train carrying petroleum products derailed and exploded
causing a massive fire.





http://samuel-warde.com/2013/07/breaking-major-fire-after-train-carrying-oil-derails-in-quebec-town-near-canada-us-border/

Stop Ethanol Trains Through Our Communities

Explosions rocks Quebec town of Lac-Megantic after train derailment. Hundreds of people were evacuated from the downtown core, large amount of fuel spilled into the Chaudière River, State of Maine has been called in to help to contain the fire in Quebec.

After all the hard work we have done, the amendment must be signed into law. Call and ask the Governor to SIGN THE ETHANOL AMENDMENT INTO LAW! (617) 725-4005

 

 

Initial reports --

Explosions rock Quebec town of Lac-Megantic after train derailment

By The Canadian PressJuly 6, 2013

 

LAC MEGANTIC, Que. - Balls of flames shot several metres into the air after a train carrying crude oil derailed in the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic early Saturday, sparking several explosions in the downtown core.

 

Up to 1,000 people were evacuated in the community about 250 kilometres east of Montreal.

 

It was not immediately known whether there were any casualties.

 

Quebec provincial police Lt. Michel Brunet said it was too early to say if anyone was dead.

 

"We're told some people are missing but they may just be out of town or on vacation," Brunet told a news conference.

 

"We're checking all that, so I can't tell you at the moment whether there are any victims or people who are injured."

 

Lac-Megantic resident Claude Bedard described the scene as "dreadful."

 

"It's terrible," Bedard said. "We've never seen anything like it. The Metro store, Dollarama, everything that was there is gone."

 

Some of the train's 73 cars exploded and the fire, which could be seen for several kilometres, spread to a number of homes.

 

"The flames in the sky were really impressive," said resident Pierre Lebeau.

 

A large but undetermined amount of fuel also spilled into the Chaudière River.

 

Several neighbouring municipalities, including Sherbrooke and Saint-Georges-de-Beauce, were enlisted to help Lac-Megantic deal with the disaster.

 

The train belongs to Montreal Maine & Atlantic, which says on its website that it owns more than 800 kilometres of track serving Maine, Vermont, Quebec and New Brunswick.

The train was reportedly heading toward Maine.

 

The cause of the derailment was not immediately known.

 

Environment Quebec spokesman Christian Blanchette said the 73 cars were filled with crude oil and that four were damaged by fire and the explosions.

 

"Right now, there is big smoke in the air, so we have a mobile laboratory here to monitor the quality of the air," Blanchette said in an interview.

 

"We also have a spill on the lake and the river that is concerning us. We have advised the local municipalities downstream to be careful if they take their water from the Chaudiere River."

 

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Train+derailment+sparks+major+fire+LacMegantic+Quebec/8625239/story.html

 

 

 

Ethanol Trains in your neighborhood?

Is your community protected? Probably not.

Mayor ‘Pissed Off’ With Norfolk Southern Over Lack of Communication

Norfolk Southern is seeking a state permit to increase offloading from 14 to 30 rail cars per day at its Alexandria facility.

Posted by Rachel Leonard (Editor), May 8, 2013

 

 

Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille said Tuesday he plans to do everything within his power to oppose Norfolk Southern's request to double the number of rail cars offloaded per day at its ethanol transfer facility near the Van Dorn Street Metro station.

Norfolk Southern filed for a permit with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to increase offloading from the current 14 rail cars to 30 cars per day. Increased emissions under the plan mean Norfolk Southern will need an air quality permit to expand the scale of operations at the facility at 1000 S. Van Dorn St.

Euille said he plans to bring a resolution before City Council next month opposing any expansion, then meet with Norfolk Southern and Virginia environmental officials to make a case against the proposal.

“This is doubling the cars from the current level of 14 to 30, and that is certainly something we feel is an environmental and safety issue, particularly considering that that facility is near a residential neighborhood, and we have an elementary school nearby,” Euille said.

He added: “This is too much of an increase for that part of the neighborhood, and at this juncture, with my role as mayor and with City Council and with the community, we will do everything within our power to oppose this expansion.”

Euille also took issue with the fact that Norfolk Southern failed to notify city officials of its plans after filing for the state permit, even though the city has no real official role in the matter. Euille told Patch he was “pissed off” about the lack of communication.

The transfer facility has been the site of past spills, including a 100-gallon ethanol spill in February. City leaders have requested that the state Department of Environmental Quality hold an informational meeting and a public hearing on Norfolk Southern’s proposal and a public comment period of at least 60 days.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Norfolk Southern spokesman Robin Chapman said the company has “considered the possibility” of expanding the Alexandria facility, depending on market conditions, but has not yet decided to implement the plan.

“Recognizing that a state air quality permit would be required to proceed with an expansion, the company wants to be able to act quickly to future market conditions and chose to apply to the DEQ for a permit ahead of the need,” he stated. “Appropriate safety measures would be designed into such a facility, but a design does not now exist.”

Chapman said Norfolk Southern didn’t tell Alexandria officials about its plans because the company knew the state would notify the city as part of the permitting process.

Bill Hayden, spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Quality, said it usually takes 90 days to issue a permit after all materials have been submitted. He did not know when Norfolk Southern filed its application.

“We're waiting for all the materials to make sure the application is complete,” Hayden said. “We have not made that determination yet, that the application is complete.”

Read more:

• Norfolk Southern Asks for Ethanol Offloading Increase
• Ethanol Spill at Norfolk Southern Transloading Facility
• Norfolk Southern to Notify Fire Department First as Part of Emergency Response Plan
• Norfolk Southern Fails to Notify Fire Department of Spill

http://westendalexandria.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/mayor-pissed-off-over-no-communication-with-norfolk-southern

Stop Ethanol Trains through Densely Populated Neighborhoods

Middleboro just got blind-sided by high-speed rail on a track previously used for slow-moving freight, mostly in the middle of the night.

There are no limits for where these trains might eventually travel - this makes us all vulnerable.

Please add your name --  


Stop Ethanol Trains through Densely Populated Neighborhoods

Target: Governor Deval Patrick

Sponsored by: Jovanna Garcia Soto

I am a tax-paying stakeholder and am deeply concerned about Global Petroleum’s proposal to bring large volumes of ethanol by train to their Revere facility (60-120-car trains, two to three times per week, 280.8 million to 468 million gallons annually).

There are hundreds of thousands of residents, businesses, organizations, churches, health care institutions, schools and other important community resources along the proposal's routes. More than fifty cities and towns are likely to be affected including Cambridge, Somerville, Everett, Chelsea, East Boston, and Revere.

 

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/685/875/129/stop-ethanol-trains-through-densely-populated-neighborhoods/

 

 

Global Petroleum: Jeopardizing Public Safety Across Massachusetts

Global Petroleum's proposal jeopardizes Massachusetts communities from West to East!

Please add your name to this new petition below:

Stop Ethanol Trains through Densely Populated Neighborhoods

Target: Governor Deval Patrick

Sponsored by: Jovanna Garcia Soto

I am a tax-paying stakeholder and am deeply concerned about Global Petroleum’s proposal to bring large volumes of ethanol by train to their Revere facility (60-120-car trains, two to three times per week, 280.8 million to 468 million gallons annually).

There are hundreds of thousands of residents, businesses, organizations, churches, health care institutions, schools and other important community resources along the proposal's routes. More than fifty cities and towns are likely to be affected including Cambridge, Somerville, Everett, Chelsea, East Boston, and Revere.

Ethanol is highly combustible and an accident in densely populated neighborhoods would put thousands at risk, without possibility of evacuation from a resulting fire.

We call on you, the Governor of Massachusetts, to listen to the concerns of the Commonwealth’s taxpayers and STOP THIS PROPOSAL.

PETITION

Previous articles:

Inferno fears halt ethanol train - Speak Out!

Ethanol in your neighborhood

Are Ethanol Trains Coming To Your Community?

Ethanol in your neighborhood?

Boston and Albany Railroad
	
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_and_Albany_Railroad

 

 

 

Under a plan by Waltham-based Global Partners LP, about 1.7 million gallons of ethanol would be carried on a freight train that is 60 cars long twice a week through two dozen communities, including Cambridge, Somerville, East Boston, Everett and Chelsea, ending at a waterside shipping center in Revere.

 

A 2011 study commissioned by the state Department of Environmental Protection found ethanol is now the most hazardous substance being transported by rail in the United States.

On July 11, a 98-car train carrying ethanol partly derailed and exploded north of downtown Columbus, Ohio. The train was reportedly traveling below the speed limit in the middle of the night, and just two people were hurt. Investigators are trying to determine the cause.