Risky Shale Oil-by-Rail Expands Despite Lack of Spill Response Preparedness

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The worst onshore oil spill in United States history was the Kalamazoo River tar sands pipeline spill in 2010 with estimates of one million gallons of oil spilled. In comparison, the oil-by-rail accident in Lac-Megantic, Quebec was 50%ย bigger.

With the oil-by-rail industry proposing large expansions to West Coast destinations, it is understandable that some local communities are worried about the risks of a spill causing major environmental damage and threatening humanย health.

While the fiery explosions get the most attention when it comes to oil train accidents, the trains also have resulted in some of the largest oil spills in North America. And that oil is usually ending up inย waterways.

In Lac-Megantic, 1.5 million gallons of oil spilled with some of it ending up in the nearby lake and river. In Aliceville, Alabama it was 750,000 gallons that ended up in wetlands. In Mount Carbon, W.Va. it was approximately 400,000 gallons on the banks of the Kanawha River. In Gogama, Ontario ruptured rail tank cars ended up in the water. Just like in Lynchburg, Virginia. And the spill in Galenas, Illinois was noted to pose โ€œimminent and substantial dangerโ€ to the Mississippiย River.

People trained as first responders to marine oil spills are very clear that the speed of the response is critical for minimizing damage. On the website for the Marine Spill Response Corporation it clearly states, โ€œDuring an oil spill, time is of theย essence!โ€

Of course, the volatile nature of the Bakken crude oil means that the current recommended approach to dealing with a Bakken oil train that has derailed and is leaking and on fire is to evacuate everyone within a half-mile radius and then let the train burn โ€” sometimes for days.

Meanwhile in January of 2014 the National Transportation Safety Board put out a safety recommendation about the current state of oil response planning for the rail industry thatย stated:

โ€œoil spill response planning requirements for rail transportation of oil/petroleum products are practically nonexistent compared with other modes ofย transportation.โ€

Large oil spills resulting in dangerous fires and explosions that make quick response impossible โ€” and yet response plans are still practically non-existent. It would seem like a recipe forย disaster.

But there is a bit of hope on the horizon. The current Transportation bill approved by the House of Representatives includes requirements for actual spill response planning for oil-by-railย transportation.

Of course, since this involves the rail industry, the bill will allow the rail companies to keep the plans secret, so really there isnโ€™t much hope atย all.

This secrecy might not be as much of an issue if recent industry oil spill response plans hadnโ€™t proven such aย joke.

BPโ€™s response plan for the Gulf of Mexico prior to the Deepwater Horizon disaster included advice on how to deal with walruses. And a link the company provided for โ€œprimary equipment providers for BP in the Gulf of Mexico Region [for] rapid deployment of spill response resources on a 24 hour, 7 days a week basisโ€ was actually a link to a Japanese home shoppingย website.

It is no wonder the oil industry wants to keep its spill response plans secret, as they donโ€™t hold up well to scrutiny. And apparently the government agencies responsible for reviewing them arenโ€™t spending much time on theย details.

Who Would Pay For a Worst-Case Oil-by-Rail Disaster? Not the Railย Industry

In another recent win for the rail companies, a court in Washington ruled that companies planning to build and expand oil-by-rail facilities โ€œdo not need to prove they have the financial resources to cover a worst-case scenario accident before receiving stateย permits.โ€

With this industry-friendly regulatory environment, it isnโ€™t surprising that there is strong opposition to several new oil-by-rail facilities planned for the Westย Coast.

The Port of Grays Harbor in Washington is one planned location for facilities that could bring in up to fourteen unit trains of crude oil a week. The public comment period for that project is currently open and many community members are calling for a full environmental impact assessment for the projects. Thatโ€™s something that wasnโ€™t required for many existing oil-by-rail facilities on both the East and West coasts as they were approved without the publicโ€™s knowledge and regulators approved the projects without thoroughly reviewing potential environmentalย impacts.

The potential environmental damage of a catastrophic oil train accident exceeds the worst pipeline spill ever, and yet the oil-by-rail industry continues to expand without any response plans in place. In other words, business asย usual.

In April, DeSmog reported on the testimony of Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) during a hearing on regulation of the pipeline and rail industries. She has fought for improved pipeline safety since 2010 when a pipeline explosion in her district killed eight people and burned down a neighborhood. In her testimony, she stated that โ€œthe system is fundamentallyย broken.โ€ย 

And so the oil-by-rail industry will continue to expand with a broken regulatory system and non-existent spill response preparation. And the regulators have predicted that they expect an average of ten derailments per year for the next twentyย years.

Odds are the Kalamazoo River oil spill wonโ€™t hold the record for largest spill for muchย longer.

Photo Credit: Erin Ferrell – ABC 13 News via Twitter

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Justin Mikulka is a research fellow at New Consensus. Prior to joining New Consensus in October 2021, Justin reported for DeSmog, where he began in 2014. Justin has a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University.

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