HazmatCost of derailments of oil-carrying trains over the next two decades: $4.5 billion
A 2014 CSX derailment led to roughly 30,000 gallons of Bakken crude oil spilling in and around the James River, West Virginia. Another CSX train derailed last week in the West Virginia town of Mount Carbon. The explosion that followed forced about 1,000 people to evacuate from their homes. The United States will likely experience more oil train derailments as long as Bakken crude oil is transported via rail from the Northern Plains’ Bakken region to U.S. refineries. Oil train accidents often lead to pipeline advocates pushing for more pipelines, but data from PHMSA shows that while oil trains have more frequent accidents, pipelines accidents cause much larger spills.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has proposed a $361,000 civil fine against CSX Transportation Inc. for a 2014 derailment that led to roughly 30,000 gallons of Bakken crude oil spilling in and around the James River. The agency also wants CSX to pay $18,574 for costs associated with investigating the spill, which occurred after seventeen oil tankers went off track, with three launching into the river.
Another CSX train derailed last week in the West Virginia town of Mount Carbon. The explosion that followed forced about 1,000 people to evacuate from their homes. Authorities are still investigating what cause that derailment.
The United States will likely experience more oil train derailments as long as Bakken crude oil is transported via rail from the Northern Plains’ Bakken region to U.S. refineries. TheMorgan Messenger, citing a July 2014 analysis by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), reports that federal authorities expect oil train accidents to be commonplace in the United States over the next twenty-years. Roughly ten derailments will happen each year, the department predicted. “Based on past accident trends, anticipated shipping volumes and known ethanol and crude rail routes, the analysis predicted about 15 derailments in 2015, declining to about five a year by 2034,” the AP reports, adding that DOT researchers expect oil derailments to cause at least $4.5 billion in damages over the next two decades.
A study by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) reports that an estimated twenty-five million Americans live within the one-mile evacuation zone that DOT recommends in the event of an oil train derailment. “The reality is that there’s no way to safely transport highly volatile crude from the Bakken oil field in North Dakota or heavy crudes from the Alberta tar sands,” said CBD’s Jared Margolis. “Instead these fossil fuels should be left in the ground, both for our safety now and to avoid the impending climate catastrophe.”
At least twenty-one oil train and thirty-three ethanol train accidents involving a fire, derailment, or significant amount of fuel have occurred in the United States and Canada over the past nine years. Regulators are now renewing calls for stronger tank cars and effective braking systems, along with other safety improvements. “This underscores why we need to move as quickly as possible getting these regulations in place,” said Tim Butters, acting administrator for DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).
Oil train accidents often lead to pipeline advocates pushing for more pipelines, but data from PHMSA shows that while oil trains have more frequent accidents, pipelines accidents cause much larger spills. Between 2004 and 2012, pipelines in the United States spilled three times as much oil as oil trains did, according to an International Energy Agencystudy based on DOT data.
