Imagining an Oil Train Explosion in Seattle

Oregon coal, oil train expansion subsidies draw elected leaders' opposition

 The Oregonian  by Rob Davis  Aug. 7, 2014

A group of local and state leaders is urging Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber and the state's top transportation officials not to award $6.9 million in subsidies to projects that would aid the expansion of oil and coal train traffic.

The officials, including Multnomah County Chairwoman Deborah Kafoury and the mayors of The Dalles, Albany, Eugene, Milwaukie, Beaverton and Hood River, say the state should do more to prepare for oil train accidents before spending money to expand traffic.

State subsidies shouldn't be awarded without understanding the impact on Oregonians' health and safety, the elected officials say. The projects hold "the potential for grave risk to people, property and the environment," Kafoury and Multnomah County Commissioner Jules Bailey said in a letter.....
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Imagining an Oil Train Explosion in Seattle, and How to Respond

Ansel Herz   The Stranger  Aug 7, 2014

On Tuesday, King County convened what it calls a "tabletop exercise" involving a who's who of people who you'll depend on to douse you in water after you catch on fire—or help you evacuate—if an oil train derails and explodes in Seattle. Local emergency responders (firefighters, for example) and officials from FEMA, the Coast Guard, Army National Guard, Environmental Protection Agency, National Transportation Safety Board, Sound Transit, King County International Airport, Port of Seattle, and Burlington Northern Sante Fe railroad company (BNSF) were all there.

"This is a new and significant risk for our people, economy, and environment," said King County Executive Dow Constantine, referring to the tens-of-millions-fold increase in gallons of oil traffic passing through Seattle since 2011, transported by outdated tanker cars carrying highly flammable crude oil from North Dakota's Bakken formation.

"They ran through a scenario of if an oil train derailed and exploded," said Constantine, "in the middle of the work day... Would the toxic cloud from the burning oil float over Seattle or a nearby community? Do we have enough buses and bus drivers to get people out? And how do we get the evacuation order out to the public?" ......  read more here