Who is Watching the Crashing Crude Trains?

Hard Look at Oil on Rail Tanker Cars

Investigative reporter Marcus Stern of Inside Climate News was interviewed on NPR’ Fresh Air, on Wednesday, February 24, 2014. Here is the audio recording of that broadcast. If you listen to this thru, you will be shocked! He discusses the crude oil train wrecks in Quebec, Alabama, North Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia, the latter on February 16th.

Duane Nichols, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Bomb Train Traffic is up 4000 % …… With Explosive Results!

What do Quebec, Alabama, North Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia all have in common?

These were all sites where trains carrying fracked crude oil derailed and exploded over the last two years, with the derailment in West Virginia occurring just last week.

The derailments, explosions, fires, and oil spills in these locations killed 47 people, threatened the lives and safety of entire communities, and led to the evacuations of many thousands of people, while polluting waterways and poisoning drinking-water supplies.

Ribbons of railroads lace most of our country, running through our cities and towns and over or next to our nation’s waterways, making it very likely that one of these bomb trains is rolling through or near your neighborhood right now.

Fracking has caused a 4000% increase in crude-by-rail transport. And 85% of the railcars the industry uses are outdated and unsafe DOT-111’s that cause the lighter, more volatile fracked Bakken crude oil to explode and burn in an accident.

Adding to this growing threat is the fact that the rail industry is looking to double the speed at which these trains travel, from 30 mph to 60 mph. But the train that derailed, exploded, and spilled thousands of gallons of oil into Virginia’s James River was only traveling at 24 mph!

These bomb trains are disasters waiting to happen that must be stopped now!

And that’s why I’m writing and asking for your help today. Please help Waterkeeper Alliance fight these bomb trains and other frontline threats to our public health, communities, waterways, and environment. Please help us STOP these deadly bomb trains.

Thank you in advance for your passion and generosity!

Sincerely, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President, Waterkeeper Alliance

Tagged as: AL, crude oil, explosions, fires, fracking, hydrocarbon compounds, natural gas liquids, ND, NGL, Quebec, refineries, trains, unit trains, VA, wv