Center Report: Oil Trains Threaten 25 Million Americans,
Wildlife
As the investigation continues into the two
latest explosive oil-train derailments in Ontario and West Virginia, the Center
for Biological Diversity released a report this morning outlining striking new
details about the risk oil trains pose to people and wildlife across the
country. Our analysis, called Runaway Risks, finds that 25 million
Americans live within the one-mile "evacuation zone" and that oil trains
routinely pass within a quarter-mile of 3,600 miles of streams and more than
73,000 square miles of lakes, wetlands and reservoirs.These dangerous trains also pass through 34 national wildlife refuges and critical habitat for 57 threatened and endangered species, including bull trout, salmon, piping plovers and California red-legged frogs.
Oil-by-rail transport has increased 40-fold since 2008 without any meaningful new safety measures. As a result, destructive accidents and spills are now occurring with disturbing frequency.
"The federal government has failed to provide adequate protection from these bomb trains," said the Center's Jared Margolis. "We clearly need a moratorium on crude-by-rail until the safety of our communities and the environment can be ensured."
Read about the report, check out this interactive map of oil train routes around the country, and then tell the Obama administration to protect us from these dangerous trains.
Tell Congress - Protect Our Towns from Exploding Oil Trains
- author: Christopher Burley
- target: US Senate and House of Representatives
- signatures: 42,346
- petition: Click Here!
On February 16, a CSX train carrying crude oil derailed in West Virginia, causing fiery explosions throughout the night that shook the windows of nearby houses. The derailment also dumped toxic petroleum into the Kanawha River, an important source of drinking water for people in Kanawha and Fayette counties.
Fifty times more crude oil was transported by rail in 2013 than in 2009, and yet safety regulations and funds for investigations and enforcement of laws to keep our communities safe remain stuck in the past.
47 people died when an oil train explosion destroyed much of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. A train in Minnesota leaked for 70 miles before the spill was discovered. And there have been explosions and spills in Alabama, Illinois, Virginia, and across the country as oil and ethanol shipments skyrocket.
Shipping oil and ethanol away from communities, improving tanker cars, and other steps can all help reduce the risk to our communities, but our lawmakers need to act.
Help prevent the next oil disaster. Urge your Senators and US Representative to adopt common sense reforms that improve the safety of rail shipping of oil and ethanol.
Alsdo, did
you know ...
... after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, which dumped 11 million gallons of heavy crude oil into Alaska's pristine Prince William Sound, only eight percent of that oil was ever cleaned up? ... after the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon spill, which dumped more than 130 million gallons of toxic crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, only eight percent of that oil was ever cleaned up? Yet despite these catastrophic oil spills, the Obama Administration is still prepared to give Big Oil the go-ahead to drill in vast portions of the wild Arctic and the Atlantic coast. We can't let this happen -- and with your help, we won't. Find out more by reading the email below. Then, tell the Obama Administration to keep our Arctic and Atlantic coasts off-limits to dangerous new oil and gas drilling. |
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Just five years after the
Deepwater Horizon blowout spilled millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf
of Mexico, the Obama Administration has proposed a disastrous plan to
rip open vast stretches of the Arctic and Atlantic coasts to dangerous new
offshore oil and gas drilling.
We must move swiftly to mobilize a massive public outcry that will compel them to change course. Can we count on you to help? Tell Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to protect these irreplaceable waters -- not auction them off for reckless oil and gas drilling. The plan would open Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia coastal waters to offshore drilling. It would risk exposing hundreds of miles of the East Coast -- from the Jersey shore down to Florida's northeast coast -- to the kind of catastrophic oil spill we saw in the Gulf of Mexico. And even one spill in the pristine Arctic -- home to more than half of America's polar bears -- would be an unmitigated catastrophe. What's more, the Administration's own analysis shows that a major spill in this fragile, remote ecosystem is likely if this plan goes forward. I'm sure you agree: We should be investing in clean, renewable energy, not risking our unspoiled Arctic and the densely populated Eastern Seaboard just to lock in new sources of carbon pollution fueling climate change. Urge Secretary Jewell to keep our Arctic and Atlantic waters out of Big Oil's hands. We're counting on people like you -- people who care deeply about the health of our oceans, our climate and our coastal communities -- to join us in protecting America's coasts for future generations. Please stand with me and NRDC to keep our vital coastal waters off-limits to Big Oil & Gas. P.S. A plan that risks polluting the pristine Arctic and beaches up and down the East Coast, while locking in new sources of carbon pollution, is the wrong energy policy for America. If you agree, make your voice heard before it's too late.  |
