OIL: Unsafe by train

Every time a crude oil train derails, analysts study train speed, cargo volatility and track condition. But train tank cars continue to explode and leak. Trains keep rolling, and railroads are planning for more trains. At what point does someone say stop?

Everyone living near tracks is scared. It’s absurd, yet we let it continue. The U.S. crude oil boom has been great for railroads and the U.S. economy, but at what real cost?

We’ve learned we know little about this new oil we’re squeezing out of the rocks and sand. We discovered that it’s highly flammable when tanker cars carrying it derailed and exploded killing 47 people in Quebec. We’ve learned enough to know we need to back away and learn more before we kill hundreds of people and denude parts of our country.

Someone in Washington, D.C., needs to do the right thing and stop the train transport of new crude oils until it can be accomplished safely. I call upon Washington and Idaho delegations to support Maria Cantwell’s Crude-by-Rail Safety Act and vote against lifting the crude oil export ban, both of which would help keep the integrity of the Earth’s biosphere intact.

KAREN WILLIAMS

Harrison