Wednesday links and action!

 Petition to sign
if you are not on Lynne's weekly email list, please sign this petition to receive timely updates. Ask all your friends to sign! When she hits 10K, she will print a hard copy for Gov Inslee.

Harper and Enbridge's Massive Angry Inch Problem

via Dogwood Initiative

Just before the meeting ended I addressed the elephant in the room, which we had only been circling around until then. I told him, “You are aware, aren’t you, that Enbridge has to get approvals from the feds and province, Enbridge has to get all the affected communities and First Nations on side, and then Enbridge has to build approximately 1,173 km of pipeline through some of the most difficult terrain ever attempted. In contrast, all we, the opposition, have to do is to stop one inch.”

His response was illuminating. CEO Daniel told me, “I’m painfully aware of that.”

 

Oil Train Concerns

via Q13Fox  Video!

Minnesota town issues traffic tickets to BNSF railroad

via KARE11 Video!

"Last year the delays became worse, an average of 45 minutes," Hodge said. "It's not uncommon for people to sit and wait that long for a train to come across."

Hodges said that when city officials held a meeting with railroad executives to discuss the delays the streets were tied up for more than 40 minutes.

He called it a public safety issue because there are no real options for fire trucks and emergency vehicles to get around the trains in a hurry. The rail line dissects the town into two sections. The fire department and the hospital are south of the tracks, while the ambulance service and long-term senior housing is on the north side.

"We've had a fire on one side of the tracks, fire department on the other side of the tracks, they can't get to the fire," Hodge explained.

So far the tickets issued to BNSF add up to about $1,200, but the railroad is fighting it. The railroad will send representatives to court in Willmar June 19, in an effort to argue that federal rail regulation trump state traffic law.

Coal export facility could get state subsidy

via Portland Tribune

The port is seeking $2 million in state funds for each of two projects to allow its 70-year-old docks to accommodate the latest ocean-going ships, instead of barges. These are known as Panamax-class ships, which will be able to navigate a widened Panama Canal.

The Columbia River dredging project, which deepened the channel from 40 to 43 feet, was completed in 2010.
The Berth 2 reconstruction project would be matched with $3 million from Ambre Energy, the Australian company seeking permits to ship coal mined in Wyoming's Powder River basin to Asia. The money would be put up by a subsidiary, Pacific Transloading. 

The Berth 1 extension project would be matched by $4.6 million from Global Partners, owner of Columbia Pacific Bio-Refinery, whose plant is next to the dock. The project would allow greater shipments of ethanol and crude oil.

Tuesday News

Port Commissioner's meeting

It was astounding, today at the Port Commissioners Meeting to have the representative from FRA launch into full on support of Fracking, cause his sons work on rigs. The sample jars were not passed around to the rabble audience.

Ed McCullough, FRA:
“one of the things about fracking is, not part of the FRA presentation, I’m just knowledgeable about it: the highest production well around Williston right now is 30% recovery, most of them average around 2 to 5% recovery. The whole point is that this is going to go on for a long time, they don’t have the technology to re-frack yet. As soon as they can re-frack and they go back to wells with 5 – 20% recovery years from now, it’s not the normal oil boom that we used to see, where they drill and pump the oil out over 10 or 20 or 30 years, this is just going to keep going. And that’s the end of my presentation.”

Update: this is must read.

Why the Bellingham story must continue to be told

Railroads disclose Oregon oil train routes but state undecided whether to share publicly

via OregonLive

Two of the railroad companies that notified the Oregon State Fire Marshal's office about oil train volumes and routes asked the state to sign confidentiality agreements restricting notification to first responders.
The state didn't sign them and received the information anyway. But the state wouldn't immediately release or even discuss the information railroads disclosed while it awaited an opinion from Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum's office.
"We do not have a resolution on the confidentiality," said Rich Hoover, spokesman for the State Fire Marshal's office. "We continue to evaluate the process."

Crude Oil Storage Tanks

via Oil Tech-Winnes

 The term "crude oil" refers to oil recovered from below the earth's surface which remains "untreated" or unrefined. The problem begins when contaminants settle out in the bottom of oil storage tanks. Contaminants come from various sources and some of the contaminants are indigenous to the crude oil itself. 

 The accumulation of crude tank bottoms is a problem experienced by most refineries the world over. The settling out of the sand, rust and heavy fractions in the crude oil results in a loss in ullage in refinery crude storage tanks and eventually refinery problems when slugs of this material are introduced into the plant.

 

 

New Rule To Reveal How Many Oil Tanker Trains Passing Through Wash. State

via KPLU

“I think it’s a very small step in the right direction,” said Eric de Place, policy director with Seattle’s Sightline Institute, an environmental think tank that has been reporting on what it calls an emerging "pipeline on rails." He says the new federal rules don’t go far enough.“Let’s keep in mind, this is not requiring them to use safer tank cars. This is not requiring them to slow down in our neighborhoods. This is not requiring them to inform emergency responders of the dangers," de Place said. "All they’re having to do is tell us some very rough figures about how many potentially explosive trains are in our states. So, it’s better than nothing, but it’s hardly where we need to be.” 

Pipeline on Wheels- Crude-by-rail rolls into American cities

Earth Justice   June, 2014

In March of 2014, Andrés Soto confirmed his nagging fears: Mile-long trains loaded with highly explosive crude oil had been rolling through his hometown of Richmond, California, unannounced, since the previous September.

Soto, a longtime activist and organizer for Communities for a Better Environment, had previously heard about the oil industry's push to bring crude-by-rail to the west coast. In late January, his organization came across an industry report highlighting the local rail yard's intentions to allow the practice. The following month, crude-by-rail popped back up on Soto's radar after a woman from La-Mégantic, Quebec, spoke to Richmond residents about how her town was destroyed after 63 tankers filled with explosive crude oil derailed and exploded, creating a fireball that killed 47 people.

Though the woman's eyewitness account terrified him, Soto figured he would deal with the issue if and when it came to Richmond. He assumed, as most people would, that local residents would get plenty of time and opportunity to weigh in on any decision to allow crude-by-rail next to their homes, schools and businesses.

He was wrong.            continued here 
      *****
and closer to home:

BNSF mixes a loaded oil train with a stadium full of fans. 

 With perhaps 40,000 people heading out into the city, this train came barreling past within just a few yards of Safeco Field.

 

       

Industry tests of crude-by-rail dangers need scrutiny, U.S. officials say

Patrick Rucker, Reuters Business News Network
June 2, 2014

Oil industry studies concluding that Bakken crude oil is safe to move by rail under existing standards may underestimate the dangers of the fuel and should not be the last word, U.S. lawmakers and industry officials said on Monday. 

In the past year, several doomed oil trains originated from North Dakota's Bakken region, including a shipment that jumped the tracks and burst into flames in Lynchburg, Virginia, on April 30. Last July, a fiery derailment destroyed the center of the village of Lac-Megantic, Quebec, killing 47 people. 

Two industry-funded studies conclude Bakken fuel is rightly classed as a flammable liquid that can safely move in standard tank cars. The cargo is nothing akin to flammable gasses like propane that must move in costlier, heavier vessels, the oil industry has said. 

But the industry findings hinge on incomplete and out-of-date methods for determining vapour pressure, an important indicator of volatility, that may miss the true dangers of Bakken fuel, according to several industry officials. 

Lawmakers say they expect regulators to scrutinize the industry's findings. 

"These studies should be taken with a grain of salt," said Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, a state that is a major pass-through point for Bakken fuel. 
continued here

GUEST EDITORIAL: Anti-oil train before it was cool – Al Smith

via Montesano Today

Al Smith is a current Democrat Candidate  for Grays Harbor  County Commissioner District 3  WEBSITE

Vancouver City Council approves resolutions opposing Tesoro-Savage project

via The Columbian

Tesoro Corp. and Savage Companies want to build what would be the largest oil-by-rail terminal in the Northwest, capable of handling up to 380,000 barrels of crude per day.

Public hearings began at 7 p.m. on the two city council resolutions.

Leavitt said 140 people signed up to testify, and each speaker was allotted three minutes. Testimony ended at approximately 12:30 a.m., and in all 101 people spoke.


Kinder Morgan could force access to Burnaby's land with National Energy Board order
Via The Vancouver Sun

Kinder Morgan is considering seeking orders from the National Energy Board to access land to test a new tunnel route under Burnaby Mountain for its Trans Mountain pipeline, a sign of how contentious the $5.4-billion project is in Burnaby.

The company announced last week the tunnel is its preferred route because recent public consultations showed it was least disruptive to residents.

However, Kinder Morgan Canada president Ian Anderson said Tuesday the City of Burnaby is preventing the company from going onto city lands and doing the necessary geotechnical work to determine if tunnelling is possible.

After Crash Killing 47, Oil-by-Rail on Trial in Canada, Maine

Tuesday, 03 June 2014      By Roger Annis, Truthout | Op-Ed 

 ....... Local residents are asking why no charges have been lodged against the higher-ups at MMA. On May 13, the three accused were led into court in handcuffs. A large crowd of residents gathered to watch and something unexpected was reported by the journalists present - there were no expressions of hostility to the accused. On the contrary, many residents voiced that the wrong people were on trial.

Nancy Guay, a hotel worker who used to give Harding his wake-up calls after overnight stops, said the silence of the crowd would have been soothing to the accused. Speaking of Harding, she said, "I said to myself, 'Poor him . . . They're not the ones who should be there.' " 

The Montreal Gazette devoted an entire page of its edition of May 14 to local response to the trial. The reaction was near universal - locals hold federal railways regulators and the owner of the former MMA responsible......

Monday, Monday

via EarthJustice

Al Smith vs. Vickie Raines choices Grays Harbor can live with

via Montesano Today

Al Smith is a completely different kind of candidate and has no name recognition among the average voter.  It’s two in the morning and raining. Your car won’t start and you are twenty miles out of town and need jumper cables. Al is the guy I would call. Oh sure, as he rumbles up in his old truck and robe and slippers he will curse and yell at you for not having your own jumper cables. “Do you know what time it is!!!!” kind of statements. Grumble, get you started, and drive home. But he WILL come. That is Al Smith.

  Gov. Inslee should call a halt to all new oil infrastructure
via Crosscut
Gov. Patrick is a lone voice at the moment. But he won’t remain so for long. If Jay Inslee is to be true to himself — and taken seriously on climate — he will have to join the Massachussetts governor. The coal industry has been crying “Uncle!” lately, begging for help, because it knows it is losing the battle. There’s an excellent chance that Washington will follow Oregon's lead and reject coal export facilities. If we also refuse to turn our beautiful state into a gateway for dirty and explosive Bakken oil, it will get harder and harder for other states to rubber-stamp dirty energy business-as-usual — and maybe a little bit easier to find a way out of this mess.

GUEST EDITORIAL – The Responsibilities of Leadership and Citizenship – Claudia Woodward-Rice

via The Vidette

Claudia Woodward-Rice lives in Central Park and is Treasurer of the Al Smith for Commissioner District #3 campaign.  

Crews Working to Rerail Train in West Tulsa

via Tulsa's Channel 8

A train derailed around 21st and Union in West Tulsa Saturdayevening.

Joe Faust with Burlington Northern Railway Company said train cars were in the process of being transferred when 10 derailed. Six of those train cars were empty, four were loaded, with one car holding hazardous materials.