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Page added on February 16, 2015
Oil Train Derails In Canada, Spills Unknown Amount Of Crude Oil
A train carrying crude oil derailed in northern Ontario, Canada late Saturday night, spilling oil and causing a fire.
Twenty-nine of the 100 cars on the train went off the track near Timmins, Ontario, and seven of those cars were still on fire as of Sunday afternoon. The derailment prompted Canadian National Railway Co. to close its main rail line, a decision that could end up causing a delay in oil shipments in eastern Canada. That delay would add to the disruption Canada’s rail industry is currently experiencing due to the weekend strike of 3,000 Canadian Pacific Railway workers, who are at odds with their company over wages and benefits.
The CBC reports that an “unknown amount” of oil spilled from the train, which derailed in a remote, wooded region. The derailed train had most recently been inspected on Saturday, the day the track was also inspected. The derailment caused no injuries, and officials are working to clean up the derailment site and determine the cause of the accident.
“There is a fire at the scene,” Canadian National’s Patrick Waldron said. “CN has initiated its emergency response plan and has crews responding to the site. That includes firefighting and environmental crews and equipment.”
The derailment is just one of many that have occured in the U.S. and Canada in recent years, as oil producers increasingly rely on rail to transport crude. According to a ForestEthics report from last year, oil train traffic in North America has surged by 4,000 percent over the last five years — traffic that’s mostly coming from North Dakota’s Bakken region and Alberta’s tar sands. With this increase in traffic, oil train accidents have also increased.
In 2013, an oil train derailed and exploded in the small town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, killing 47 people and destroying the town’s center. The tragic event reignited calls for improved safety measures in the oil-by-rail industry. The train that derailed in Lac-Mégantic was carrying oil from the Bakken region, which studies have confirmed is more volatile than other types of crude. And the types of cars in the train that derailed are older and more prone to puncture. In September, environmental groups sued the U.S. Department of Transportation over its failure to discontinue the cars.
The State Department’s final Environmental Impact Statement on the Keystone XL pipeline, which came out early last year, stated that “rail will likely be able to accommodate new production if new pipelines are delayed or not constructed.” That’s worrisome, especially for people who live close enough to an oil train route that they could be in danger if a train derailed (though as the spill in Mayflower, AR proved in 2013, living near an oil pipeline also carries its risks). But the State Department’s assessment of rail’s ability to pick up the slack if Keystone XL is rejected may not be correct: a Reuters analysis from 2013 reported that oil industry officials were wary of signing on to an oil-by-rail alternative because of its costs. The recent drop in oil prices could make the method of transport even more cost-prohibitive.
16 Comments on "Oil Train Derails In Canada, Spills Unknown Amount Of Crude Oil"
Makati1 on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 6:13 pm
Deteriorating systems of all kinds and the added pressures of the modern world will unite in more and more failures/accidents like this one. Just a sign of the desperation to keep BAU waste going for another day. The sooner it all collapse’ the better.
Plantagenet on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 6:28 pm
Oil pipelines are intrinsically safer than oil trains.
Its bizarre that Obama continues to oppose building oil pipelines ad other infrastructure that would make transportation of oil safer for Americana and Canadians.
GregT on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 6:38 pm
Oil is no longer safe for all life on planet Earth. We have already been told that some 70% of all known fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground, if we hope to have any chance of averting a catastrophic runaway greenhouse event.
Obama has been trying to do the right thing. Unfortunately Obama is not in control, he is only a politician.
dave thompson on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 7:22 pm
Obama is sticking it to the do nothing Republicans The oil is still being shipped via rail and existing pipelines.
Tim on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 10:26 pm
Rinse and Repeat,02/16/15
MOUNT CARBON, W.Va. (AP) — A train carrying more than 100 tankers of crude oil derailed during a snowstorm in southern West Virginia on Monday, sending at least one tanker into a river, igniting at least 14 in all and sending a fireball hundreds of feet into the sky, officials and residents said.
Perk Earl on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 10:43 pm
As cynical as this may come across, I wonder if this derailment was intentional to increase pressure for the pipeline.
theedrich on Tue, 17th Feb 2015 3:30 am
Interesting that the only reasons for preventing the much safer pipelines are political: Ø & Co. need the campaign money from their neurotic lefty friends and their media bandwagon.
dave thompson on Tue, 17th Feb 2015 7:32 am
Missing from the discussion is the fact that tar sands are currently uneconomical under $80 per bbl.
Makati1 on Tue, 17th Feb 2015 9:02 am
dave thompson, you are on the right track. Odds are very good, that by the time a pipeline could be constructed, it would not have anything to pump thru it. It takes a decade or so to pay back the cost and make a profit on it’s construction. Oil consumption does not have that long to exist in those profitable quantities.
Davy on Tue, 17th Feb 2015 9:41 am
Mak, your logic would extend to China and Russia then and there grand pipeline scheme. Or is that not part of you selective anti American agenda?
shortonoil on Tue, 17th Feb 2015 10:07 am
Here is a comment that we made in October of 2013 about LTO by rail. Doesn’t look like anything has changed. The rail industry knows that the days of shale are numbered!
http://www.thehillsgroup.org/
10/20/13 PO News
State Of Emergency Declared As Another Oil/Gas Train Derails In Canada
Most of what comes out of the Bakken is condensate, it is not crude. Condensate has a much lower viscosity than crude. The difference is like hauling a container of milk, or a container of molasses. Until they redesign rail cars to handle this lower viscosity material, it is likely they will keep flipping cars off the tracks!
Of course finding someone to pay for the change over is going to be the problem. Investing millions (billions) into an infrastructure for an industry that is likely to only be around for a few more years will be problematic, at best.
dave thompson on Tue, 17th Feb 2015 10:35 am
Lets add it all up in rough numbers, the oil surge of the past few years is coming from fracking LT and tar sands heavy oil. Both being expensive and low in EROEI. Add into that mix, 20% of production from stripper wells that are heavily subsidized with negative EROEI. Along with deep water expensive oil. I am not a scientist, however, what anyone can conclude, looking at the simplest of data, we in the USA inc. are done for, with or without the XL pipeline.
Plantagenet on Tue, 17th Feb 2015 12:03 pm
@Dave Thompson
I don’t understand your post. The Rs are passing a bill to move forward on billions of dollars of infrastructure construction in the US and obama is going to veto it and you are complaining about the “do nothing” Rs?
Isn’t obama the one “doing nothing” when he vetos infrastructure spending that would create thousands of good paying US construction jobs?
Cheers!
dave thompson on Tue, 17th Feb 2015 1:37 pm
Planetgaurd, The “Rs” are passing what bill? Another “O care” repeal? Or the part about shutting down the government again?
Plantagenet on Tue, 17th Feb 2015 1:52 pm
Hi Dave:
You are obviously not very well informed. Check out Senate Bill 1 (SB1). This bill has already been passed the House (HR3).
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/1
If you can’t figure out what the legal language means, I’ll explain it to you. The Rs are passing a bill to move forward on billions of dollars of infrastructure construction in the US.
obama says he is going to veto it.
It seems to me that obama is taking a “do nothing” position when he vetos infrastructure spending that would create thousands of good paying US construction jobs
Get it now?
Cheers!
dave thompson on Tue, 17th Feb 2015 1:53 pm
Obama is giving the Republicans a taste.