West Virginia train derailment
A train carrying crude oil derailed in Mount Carbon, WV, on Feb. 16, causing a large fire that forced hundreds of people to evacuate their homes and temporarily shutting down water treatment facilities. Environmental group PennEnvironment Monday released a study that cautions of similar dangers in Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley.
(Associated Press)
More than 86,000 residents in Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton live within a potential evacuation zone for an oil train crash similar to the one that ignited 14 tankers last month in West Virginia, according to an environmental group tracking the possible dangers of Bakken crude oil.
The PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center Monday highlighted the dangers of oil trains with the release of "Danger Around the Bend: The Threat of Oil Trains in Pennsylvania." The U.S. Department of Transportation study predicts crude oil or ethanol trains may derail 10 times a year over the next two decades, according to PennEnvironment.
"Unbeknownst to residents, community leaders, and first responders, these trains are rumbling through our neighborhoods, putting thousands of Pennsylvanians at risk for death, injury and destruction," said Alaina Gercak, a campaign organizer with PennEnvironment.
The FrakTracker Alliance, a nonprofit group that tracks and maps gas and oil production in more than 30 states, estimates more than 206,000 Lehigh Valley residents live within the potential half-mile evacuation zone for an oil train derailment. An estimated 44,035 Allentown residents living in the 18103 zip code live within an evacuation zone, ranking sixth in the state.
About 25,264 West Bethlehem residents living in the 18018 zip code and about 17,304 Easton residents living in the 18042 zip code live within a possible evacuation zone, according to PennEnvironment.
A July 2013 oil train derailment and explosion in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, killed 47 and leveled a portion of the city's downtown.
Bakken Formation
Crude oil production from the Bakken Formation in North Dakota has increased dramatically in recent years, Gercak said.This oil contains more volatile organic compounds than other types of crude, giving it a much lower flash point, she said.
Oil trains are often routed through high-density areas bound for refineries in Philadelphia and Linden, N.J., increasing the risk of catastrophe, Gercak said, noting two derailments occurred in Philadelphia and one outside Pittsburgh within the last two years.
More than 12,000 children in Allentown, about 5,000 in Bethlehem and nearly 4,000 in Easton live within a possible evacuation zone, according to Gercak. But the public and first responders are left in the dark about the fact oil trains are traveling through their communities and when, she said.
Doug Roysdon, who attended Monday's news conference at the Allentown Parks and Recreation Department, lives in the 400 block of Second Avenue in Bethlehem within about 1,600 feet of a Norfolk Southern rail line.
"A week ago I was unaware as anybody else that these bomb-like trains are going within bombing distance of my house," he said.
The statistics about the number of people living within rail lines are startling, Roysdon said, but it's important to put those statistics into perspective by pairing them with images of the damage caused by last week's derailment in West Virginia.
Even more importantly, he said, is looking at what else lies within an evacuation zone: Donegan Elementary School, Broughal Middle School and Lehigh University.
"This is what we're really taking about," Roysdon said. Not 421 Second Ave. Real kids with real faces."
More cooperation
Don Miles is the chairman of the Lehigh Valley Sierra Club and serves on the state Sierra Club board.
The Sierra Club estimates that six to 10 trains a day carrying Bakken oil move through the Lehigh Valley and the downtowns of its three cities, Miles said. And the Norfolk Southern lines run along the Lehigh River, which serves as a major source of drinking water, he said.
In an effort to move the oil to market faster, the Bakken oil isn't refined as much as it should to remove the volatile compounds, and the single refinery in North Dakota doesn't have the capacity to handle the amount of crude being produced, according to Miles.
Norfolk Southern neither owns the rail cars in which the oil is shipped, nor can it dictate what rail cars an oil company uses, Miles said. So the local Sierra Club chapter will ask city councils in Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton to approve a measure that asks the freight carrier to notify local officials when oil trains are scheduled to travel through their municipalities and pay to train first responders in dealing with such train derailments, he said.
And while calls for improved safety and oversight are necessary, they are not the ultimate solution, Miles said.
"The solution is not to have more tankers and pipelines," he said. "The solution is to have sustainable power with wind, solar, and geothermal."
Norfolk Southern shares concerns
"We are as concerned as anyone in the public about crude oil trains," Norfolk Southern spokesman David Pidgeon said.
Under federal law, Norfolk Southern has no choice but to haul hazardous materials, including crude oil, with the tank cars provided by shippers if they meet current federal standards, Pidgeon said, adding the company for years has advocated for safer tank cars.
Pidgeon would not confirm the number of oil trains that travel through the Lehigh Valley on a daily basis. The company does not generally comment on the number or trains or what they are carrying for security reasons, but that information is filed with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, he said.
The company has instituted more high-tech track inspections on oil train lines and has agreed to slow such trains through densely populated areas, Pidgeon said, noting that high profile wrecks like Quebec and West Virginia are exceptions to what is a generally safe industry.
Norfolk Southern has routinely trained local emergency personnel in responding to train accidents involving all types of freight and will conduct such training again this summer in the Lehigh Valley, Pidgeon said. As for the Sierra Club's request that the company notify municipalities whenever an oil train is scheduled to pass through, he said Norfolk Southern needs to balance open dialogue with the need for security.
Norfolk Southern will work with local responders to explain their protocols and make emergency personnel aware of the contractors available to respond through the company's 22-state network, Pidgeon said.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., sent President Barack Obama's administration a letter last week asking to hasten railway safety improvements.
PennEnvironment Monday called on state and federal officials to:
- Increases the public and first responders' right to know about trains coming through their communities;
- Reroute trains away from all of the state' s densely populated areas;
- Require a greater level of inspections and oversight;
- Ensure train companies are paying the true cost of shipping dangerous Bakken oil across the nation, such as proper insurance policies to cover the cost of an oil train disaster and safety violation fines;
- Improve and update the country's ailing rail infrastructure.
"The disasters that have already happened throughout North America, the recent oil train explosion in West Virginia, and the near misses here in Pennsylvania show that time is of the essence," Gercak said. "We need to act now to protect local residents and first responders from the growing threat of oil trains, and move towards a clean energy future."