Nationwide Protests Call for Immediate Ban on Oil Bomb Trains

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This young woman was arrested along with a fellow activist for attempting to unfurl a banner on a railroad bridge in the San Francisco Bay Area. The large banner, with the message “Stop Oil Trains Now,” was sponsored by ForestEthics, Communities for a Better Environment and the Asian Pacific Environmental Network as part of the week of action.  

Activists Hang “#StopOilTrains Now” Banner on #BayArea Bridge. pic.twitter.com/V3ljYcUp4D — ForestEthics (@ForestEthics) July 6, 2015

Megan Zapanta, an organizer with Asian Pacific Environmental Network, “estimates 5.5 million Californians live within one mile of an oil train route, which she says is considered the potential blast zone of a catastrophic explosion,” according to Public News Service. “Oil trains are carrying extremely volatile, flammable crude oil,” she told Public News Service. “Many different derailments have happened across the country, so we’re very concerned about seeing an explosion or some sort of spill or damage here.”

We’ve come very close to more deadly disasters with the recent explosions, as Todd Paglia, executive director of ForestEthics points out: “Five times in 2015 we’ve seen oil trains derail and send toxic fireballs into the sky. Luckily, none of these accidents was fatal, however, each of these trains traveled through heavily populated areas, and would have travelled through more on their way to coastal refineries.”

“ForestEthics calculates that 25 million Americans live in the oil train Blast Zone,” says Matt Krogh, ForestEthics extreme oil campaign director. “Federal regulations do little or nothing to protect our communities. Our first responders aren’t equipped for these dangerous trains carrying millions of gallons of the world’s most toxic, most carbon intensive, most explosive crude oil. These trains are too dangerous for the rails.”

Oil by rail is just not safe. We’re joining w/ @ForestEthics to #StopOilTrains! Find out more: http://t.co/oT1AiVyRrB pic.twitter.com/QnfhsSv2Kq

— Greenpeace USA (@greenpeaceusa) July 6, 2015

Watch this video exposing how many Americans are at risk from bomb oil trains:

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