Anthony Swift NRDC 4/28/15
The West Coast could soon become a destination for huge volumes of tar sands crude oil - one of the world's dirtiest fuels - setting back efforts to combat climate change and exposing communities to significant new health and environmental risks. NRDC and a coalition of twenty-nine partners organization released a report - West Coast Tar Sands Invasion - that examines the spike in oil infrastructure, climate pollution, and public health risks that will result from oil industry proposals to expand tar sands refining and export capacity on the West Coast.
As the report details, in coming decades the amount of tar sands crude moving into and through the North American West Coast could increase by more than 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd) in coming decades if industry proposals for pipelines, tankers and rail facilities move forward. According to analysis by Borealis Centre Environment and Trade Research, nearly half of that tar sands - or 800,000 bpd - could be destined for refineries capable of processing heavy crude in California and Washington. This proposed tar sands invasion is a part of a massive expansion plan by the oil industry to triple production in Alberta, which will require the industry to access the United States' Gulf Coast, West Coast, and East Coast refinery markets (an invasion that Keystone XL continues to be a critical part). The tar sands invasion has major ramifications for the entire West Coast. It requires a strong response from decision makers who must recognize the critical links between proposed tar sands infrastructure and strong climate policies, reduced oil consumption and expanding clean transportation solutions.
The report finds that tar sands industry proposals would result in the following:
- A greater than tenfold increase the amount of tar sands moving into and through the North American west coast by more than 1.7 million bpd
- Increase the region's carbon pollution by up to 26 million metric tons - the equivalent of adding 5.5 million cars to the road
- Create 1,500 miles of new pipelines in British Columbia
- Increase Canadian crude by rail from approximately 10,000 bpd to up to 400,000 bpd
- Increase tanker and barge traffic twenty-five fold, from 80 to over 2,000 vessels along the Pacific west coast, on the Salish Sea, and down the Columbia River
- Increase tar sands at West Coast refineries by eight-fold, from 100,000 bpd to 800,000 bpd by 2040
- Create a dozen new rail terminals that would significantly increase the region's crude-by-rail traffic
- Place hundreds of communities, critical waterways and other environmentally-sensitive areas at risk of a tar sands oil spill
- Put fenceline communities and millions of West Coast residents at greater risk than ever to increased toxic air pollution, derailments, explosions and other accidents that harm public health along with air and water quality
Rail lines that cater to ag escape oil train tax
Don Jenkins Capital Press 4/27/15
Oil train bill won't increase taxes on railroad companies that haul farm products.
OLYMPIA — In the nick of time, regional railroads, many of which primarily haul agricultural products, escaped a tax increase.
Shortly before adjourning Friday, the Washington House and Senate agreed on a bill to address an influx of rail cars hauling potentially explosive crude oil from Bakken fields to West Coast refineries.
BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad will pay higher taxes to beef up rail inspections, but short-line railroads that don’t carry crude will be exempted.
“It was a really significant victory for short-line railroads,” said lobbyist Patrick Boss, who represented a coalition of regional rail companies. “That bill was about oil trains. I think the Legislature did the right thing.”
Short-line railroads were included in House Bill 1449 until it was amended just before the Senate approved it 46-0. The House agreed with that and other changes and passed the measure 95-1 a short time later. The bill is ready to be signed by Gov. Jay Inslee, who praised it in a press release.
Passing the bill was the Legislature’s last major action before ending the 2015 regular session. Lawmakers will convene in a special session Wednesday to negotiate 2015-17 operating, capital and transportation budgets..... more here
In compromise, Washington state oil safety legislation focuses on crude-by-rail
By Samantha Wohlfeil The Bellingham Herald April 27, 2015
Derailed oil train’s crew told investigators they had seconds to escape
The interviews, conducted in January 2014 by the National Transportation Safety Board, show the occupational risks railroad workers face, especially with trains carrying hazardous materials. The train’s engineer is suing BNSF, and says the wreck left him with post-traumatic stress disorder.
They also show that emergency responders did not initially understand the severity of the situation they faced when two trains derailed near Casselton, N.D., on Dec. 30, 2013. One of them was carrying grain, and the other, crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken region..... more here
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