Quantcast
Powered by RebelMouse

Recent Rail Explosions Prompt City Review of Proposed Crude Oil Transport

Laura Beans
Aug. 13, 2013 04:08PM EST Energy

Natural Resources Defense Council

By Brant Olsen

Last week, city officials in Benicia, CA, required a detailed investigation into Valero's proposed crude-by-rail terminal. The decision is a setback for Valero, which had hoped to begin construction next month, and a victory for residents concerned about the potential health, safety and environmental risks associated with the project.

Lac Megantique crude oil train crash site, July 2013

Valero wants to run two fifty-car trains per day through the bay-front community. Residents are concerned about the risk of accidents like the explosion that killed 47 last month in Lac Megantique, Quebec after a crude-filled train ran off the rails.  

Residents are also concerned that the facility will bring in tar sands from Canada. Valero's Bill Day contends that "there's no such thing as dirty oil or clean oil," but recent experience shows that the sticky, heavy bitumen from Canada's tar sands presents special problems beyond those of conventional crude. 

Three years after a ruptured pipeline spilled nearly a million gallons of diluted bitumen into Michigan's Kalamazoo River, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 162,000 gallons of the sticky, heavy goo will remain sunk into the riverbed permanently. Due to this unique composition, refining bitumen from the tar sands can also release more heavy metals and other toxic emissions into the air than conventional crude.

City officials  made the right call when they decided to conduct a full investigation into Valero's new rail terminal. Now Valero needs to come clean on whether the new facility will bring in dirty oil from Canada's tar sands.

Visit EcoWatch’s TAR SANDS page for more related news on this topic.

——–

tar sands energy

EcoWatch Daily Newsletter

chemicals

‘Companies Should Not Be Allowed to Use Hazardous Ingredients in Products People Use’: Michelle Pfeiffer Speaks Up for Safer Cosmetics

Politics
Tim P. Whitby / 21st Century Fox / Getty Images

The beauty products we put on our skin can have important consequences for our health. Just this March, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned that some Claire's cosmetics had tested positive for asbestos. But the FDA could only issue a warning, not a recall, because current law does not empower the agency to do so.

Michelle Pfeiffer wants to change that.

The actress and Environmental Working Group (EWG) board member was spotted on Capitol Hill Thursday lobbying lawmakers on behalf of a bill that would increase oversight of the cosmetics industry, The Washington Post reported.

Read More Show Less
public health chemicals asbestos michelle pfeiffer environmental working group
pipelines

People Power Can Stop the Line 3 Tar Sands Pipeline in Minnesota

Insights + Opinion
A protest march against the Line 3 pipeline in St. Paul, Minnesota on May 18, 2018. Fibonacci Blue / CC BY 2.0

By Collin Rees

We know that people power can stop dangerous fossil fuel projects like the proposed Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline in Minnesota, because we've proved it over and over again — and recently we've had two more big wins.

Read More Show Less
pipelines oil change international fossil fuels climate change tar sands
Sponsored
biodiversity

World Leaders, Media Ignore Biodiversity Report Detailing Mass Extinction Event Now Underway

Insights + Opinion
Scientists released a study showing that a million species are at risk for extinction, but it was largely ignored by the corporate news media. Danny Perez Photography / Flickr / CC

By Julia Conley

Scientists at the United Nations' intergovernmental body focusing on biodiversity sounded alarms earlier this month with its report on the looming potential extinction of one million species — but few heard their calls, according to a German newspaper report.

Read More Show Less
biodiversity common dreams endangered species climate change renewable energy climate denier
ethical consumerism

Does Shopping Ethically Really Make a Difference?

Sponsored
DoneGood

By Cullen Schwarz

Ethical shopping is a somewhat new phenomenon. We're far more familiar with the "tried and tested" methods of doing good, like donating our money or time.

Read More Show Less
donegood sponsored fast fashion business consumerism ethical consumerism sustainability
public health

Hundreds of Sunscreens Don’t Work or Have Unsafe Ingredients, Annual Review Finds

Health + Wellness
Pixabay

Summer is fast approaching, which means it's time to stock up on sunscreen to ward off the harmful effects of sun exposure. Not all sunscreens are created equally, however.

Read More Show Less
public health sunscreen environmental working group cancer coral reefs chemicals
Sponsored
climate crisis

Climate Change Is a Top Concern in 2020 Election

Politics
Mark Wallheiser / Getty Images

The climate crisis is a major concern for American voters with nearly 40 percent reporting the issue will help determine how they cast their ballots in the upcoming 2020 presidential election, according to a report compiled by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

Of more than 1,000 registered voters surveyed on global warming, climate and energy policies, as well as personal and collective action, 38 percent said that a candidate's position on climate change is "very important" when it comes to determining who will win their vote. Overall, democratic candidates are under more pressure to provide green solutions as part of their campaign promises with 64 percent of Democrat voters saying they prioritize the issue compared with just 34 percent of Independents and 12 percent of Republicans.

Read More Show Less
air pollution green new deal climate change climate crisis voting 2020 election carbon tax
climate change

Senate Approves $19.1 Billion in Disaster Funding After Years of Climate-Fueled Disasters

Politics
Flooding in Winfield, Missouri this month. Jonathan Rehg / Getty Images

President Donald Trump has agreed to sign a $19.1 billion disaster relief bill that will help Americans still recovering from the flooding, hurricanes and wildfires that have devastated parts of the country in the past two years. Senate Republicans said they struck a deal with the president to approve the measure, despite the fact that it did not include the funding he wanted for the U.S.-Mexican border, CNN reported.

"The U.S. Senate has just approved a 19 Billion Dollar Disaster Relief Bill, with my total approval. Great!" the president tweeted Thursday.

Read More Show Less
extreme weather hurricanes wildfires flooding donald trump climate change
extreme weather

3 Dead in Missouri Tornadoes, ‘Extensive Damage’ to State Capital

Climate
Reed Hoffmann / Getty Images

Violent tornadoes tore through Missouri Wednesday night, killing three and causing "extensive damage" to the state's capital of Jefferson City, The New York Times reported.

"There was a lot of devastation throughout the state," Governor Mike Parson said at a Thursday morning press conference, as NPR reported. "We were very fortunate last night that we didn't have more injuries than what we had, and we didn't have more fatalities across the state. But three is too many."

Read More Show Less
climate change natural disasters extreme weather tornadoes climate crisis