The eight proposed and three operating oil terminals in the Northwest are increasing the amount of oil-by-rail through the Columbia Gorge, with estimates as high as 23 trains a day. Oil shipments by rail have risen 443 percent nationwide between 2005 and 2012, according to the AAR. The dangers to Oregon’s climate, environment, humans and wildlife in the event of an accident, start to become clear when the increase in oil trains is combined with the news of the devastating explosion in Lac-Mégantic. Both federally and at the state level, who’s in charge of what’s being carried on trains is convoluted; EW hit some bureaucratic walls when we tried to find out if Lane County is part of the “oil pipeline on rails.”
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 01:49:54 +0000
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