ROYERSFORD – Pauline King-Walley, 58, lives on Main Street here with three grandchildren nearby.
The youngest attends Royersford Elementary School, which is in what King-Walley described as the “blast zone” if a Bakken crude train derails on the Norfolk Southern Railway tracks along the Schuylkill River near Main Street and Second Avenue.
“I’m concerned about crude oil running through our hometowns,” King-Walley said. “We call them bomb trains because they’re like a flying bomb through your town.”
King-Walley said she’s heard about a few derailments since the beginning of the year and knows Bakken crude is very flammable.
In February, 27 CSX Transportation rail cars carrying Bakken crude derailed in Mount Carbon, W.Va., causing an explosion that burned down a house and forced out a couple of dozen residents.
Two weeks later, 21 BNSF Railway cars derailed near Galena, Ill., about 170 miles west of Chicago. Five cars caught fire, and flames burned for more than 24 hours.
King-Walley attended a Bakken crude emergency preparedness presentation Friday at Lewis Environmental Group in Royersford. It was organized by the Montgomery County commissioners, the Montgomery County Department of Public Safety, Lewis Environmental Group and Norfolk Southern.
Norfolk Southern runs the roughly 30 miles of track that parallels the Schuylkill River in Montgomery. It also runs about 50 miles of track in Berks County from the Womelsdof area to Reading, then branching north to the Kutztown area and south to the county line near Pottstown.
There has never been a Bakken-car derailment in Pennsylvania, and the derailments in the U.S. have not caused any fatalities, said David Pidgeon, a Norfolk Southern spokesman.
Still, he said the railroad is interested in forming strong partnerships with local emergency responders for an efficient response to any incident.
“We go around our network all year long working on training with emergency responders and listening to them,” Pidgeon said.
“The incidents you’ve seen in media reports, they are the exception, not the rule,” he said. “We want the safest possible tanker cars on our rails.”
Pidgeon said hazardous materials travel rail routes that are assigned using a formula that considers a region’s population and environment among other things. It was developed with input from the federal government and the Association of American Railroads.
Increasing carloads
The crude oil is produced in the Bakken region of eastern Montana, western North Dakota and parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba in Canada.
“Everybody wants us to be independent from foreign oil,” said Montgomery County Commissioner Bruce L. Castor Jr. “One of the things that goes along with that is we have to use other sources of oil and figure out a safe way to move it around the country.”
Valerie A. Arkoosh, vice chairwoman of the commissioners, said the county has been paying attention to the increase in Bakken crude transportation.
She cited research from the Association of American Railroads that found 493,126 carloads of crude moved by rail in 2014, up from 9,500 in 2008, an increase of more than 5,000 percent.
“Local and state governments cannot control what is shipped through our areas on rail cars,” Arkoosh said. “But it is our job to respond to any potential problems.”
Pidgeon also said Norfolk Southern cannot refuse to haul certain materials. According to the Common Carrier Obligation, as long as a tanker meets federal regulations, railroads must haul it.
Being prepared
In the case of a derailment, Norfolk Southern procedure dictates that the railroad contacts the local 9-1-1 call center, which in turn dispatches municipal responders.
Norfolk Southern collaborated on a mobile application with other members of the Association of American Railroads. It’s called AskRail and offers real-time information about the contents, location and specifications of rail cars. The app is not available to the public.
Pidgeon said Norfolk Southern does not release information regarding the contents or movement of specific trains for proprietary and security reasons, but the railroad understands the importance of the information for emergency responders.
Emergency organizations can contact Pidgeon at david.pidgeon@nscorp.com to request access to the app.
In Montgomery, officials have been preparing Bakken emergency response methods since at least 2013, said Josh Shapiro, chairman of the county commissioners.
The public could expect to be told to evacuate, shelter in place or avoid defined contamination zones, depending upon the severity of the incident.
Shapiro said the county hosted a Bakken crude tabletop exercise in February. Another one is scheduled in June, and more are expected to take place next year.
The county commissioned a helicopter to fly over the Norfolk Southern line, taking high-definition aerial photos of the tracks from Pottstown to Philadelphia to provide a clear picture of the region.
Six months ago, the county also purchased a foam pumper to fight fires that involve hazardous materials. A $350,000 federal grant covered the cost.
Shapiro said Montgomery has a mutual aid agreement with Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester and Delaware counties.
Thomas Bausher, emergency management coordinator for the West Side Regional Emergency Management Agency, attended Friday’s presentation to get some ideas to take back to Berks. His agency covers Wyomissing, West Reading, Sinking Spring and Spring Township.
“What was told here wasn’t a big divulgence,” Bausher said, “but the tabletop exercises are good. I’d like Berks to do some Bakken crude tabletop exercises.”
Brian A. Gottschall, Berks emergency services director, said the county is pursuing grants to host an exercise.
John Corcoran, deputy director of external affairs for the Montgomery County Department of Public Safety, said the county has been so focused on Bakken emergency preparedness because of its population density. There are many people living next to lines carrying Bakken-crude.
Corcoran said even though Montgomery doesn’t have a mutual aid agreement with Berks, it would help respond to an emergency if it was needed.
Contact Paige Cooperstein: 610-371-5021 or pcooperstein@readingeagle.com.
