The Disaster Express

Crude oil is being transported through the North State by rail to refineries in the Bay Area, despite the inherent risks of moving highly combustible cargo through rough terrain in rural communities that lack the proper emergency responders. According to a recent report by the state’s Interagency Rail Safety Working Group, each week a train carrying more than a million gallons of crude oil is transiting rails in the Feather River Canyon (see this week’s cover feature, “On track for disaster,” page 18).

Some of these trains may contain what is called Bakken crude oil, which experts say is more unstable. They also say most trains today aren’t equipped to move this oil.

Last January, the National Transportation Safety Board issued guidelines that call for the tank cars used to transport this oil to be upgraded. The NTSB also called for route planning that would avoid populated and environmentally sensitive areas; requirements that carriers have adequate response abilities in the event of an accident, derailment or spill; and audit carriers to ensure that shipments are properly labeled and that the carrier has appropriate plans in place in the event of an incident.

And there have been disasters. The Lac-Mégantic derailment in Quebec was just last year: a 74-car train derailed, exploded, and killed 47 people. It also destroyed a big chunk of that city’s downtown.

We understand that the oil needs to get to the refineries and that rail is an efficient means of transportation. However, the current car stock is inadequate to the task. Even as federal regulators work to create new standards for the tank cars, dangerous crude oil is rolling over the rails in cars that are not up to snuff.

We urge readers to contact the NTSB and the California Public Utilities Commission, which oversees rail safety, and request that rail shipments of crude oil be transported only in upgraded tank cars and at lower speeds to avoid accidents.

The likelihood of an accident may be small, but the consequences would be catastrophic.