Yet Another Oil Train Has Derailed and Caught Fire
| Thu Mar. 5, 2015 9:44 PM EST
The scene of crude oil train that derailed in Ontario, Canada on February 14.
Earlier today, yet another massive train carrying crude oil derailed and caught on fire, this time in northern Illinois near the Mississippi River. One-hundred-and-three of the the train's 105 cars were carrying crude oil—from where was not immediately clear—eight of which derailed. Two of the derailed cars have caught on fire, according to BNSF Railway which owns the train, sending plumes of smoke and fire into the sky above Galena, Illinois, a town of just over 3,300.
The image of smoldering oil train cars is now a familiar sight: Incidences of exploding oil trains have been rapidly rising in North America thanks to the fracking boom in North Dakota's Bakken oil fields (Bakken oil is potentially more flammable than normal crude) and the slow transition away from old, unsafe rail cars. Oil-by-rail carloads are up 4000 percent from 2008 in the United States and this is the the third derailment in North America in the last three weeks, including a massive explosion in West Virginia on February 16 that injured one person and spilled oil into the nearby Kanawha River. In fact, a Department of Transportation report predicted trains carrying crude and ethanol would derail an average of 10 times per year in the next two decades. This is bad news for people who live near railways and the ecosystems in which they reside.
People living within a mile radius of today's derailment have begun evacuating,and authorities are monitoring the Mississippi River for leakage. BNSF Railway has not responded to inquiries from Mother Jones about the age of the trains' cars and whether the train was carrying Bakken crude. We will update the post with when we have that information. The Birkshire Hathaway subsidiary did tell Reuters, however, that no injuries had been sustained.
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FROM NBC NEWS
Freight Train Carrying Oil Derails, Catches Fire in Illinois
The train derailed at around 1:20 p.m. local time (2:20 p.m. ET) near Galena, a town of about 3,400 people in the northwestern part of the state near the Iowa border, BNSF Railway said in a statement. At least five of the train cars derailed, emergency officials said.
A voluntary evacuation area was established for a mile around the derailment. Out of 500 families in that area, only one chose to leave, Galena City Administrator Mark Moran told The Associated Press late Thursday.
The scene of the derailment is near the Mississippi River, and there is a concern that oil and other materials on the train may spill into the waterway, a spokesperson for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency said. State and federal EPA officials were en route to the scene of the derailment Thursday afternoon.
BNSF on Thursday evening couldn't immediately say how many train cars derailed, and said the cause of the accident was not yet known. The company said the train consisted of 105 loaded cars, and all but two of those contained crude oil; the other two were buffer cars loaded with sand. The company did not say how much oil was on the train.
The train was coming from North Dakota, BNSF said. The company did not say where the train was headed.
The Federal Railroad Administration said it was sending a team of investigators to the scene of the accident.
BNSF said it was taking steps to prevent any crude oil from spilling into waterways, and will conduct air monitoring. "Protection of the communities we serve, the safety of our employees and protection of the environment are our highest priorities. We are guided by these priorities as we respond to this situation," BNSF said in a statement.
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