More Oil Being Shipped by Rail = More Risks

As resistance to pipelines builds, trains have become the preferred mode of transportation for oil producers in North America. With the increased levels of shipping by rail comes increased incidence of accidents.

In 2013 alone there were 88 rail accidents involving oil and at least 8 explosions of trains bearing crude. Seven of the 10 worst US oil spills in the last decade happened in the last three years. More crude oil has spilled from train accidents in 2013 than in the previous four decades combined. Between 1975 to 2012, US rail spilled a combined 800,000 gallons of crude oil. This pales in comparison to the 1.15 million gallons of crude oil was spilled in 2013.

Oil is involved in more rail and road accidents than any other dangerous goods. Between January 1, 2006 and June 30, 2013, almost one third of all accidents involving the transportation of dangerous goods by rail or road involved crude oil.

Train Derails and Spills Oil in Lynchburg Virginia

On Wednesday April 30th, yet another train carrying oil derailed and burst into flames. The Virginia spill occurred in downtown Lynchburg and caused an unknown quantity of crude to spill into the James River. Richmond, the state capital of Virginia, draws its drinking water from the James River.

Virginia is a state that is no stranger to having its water contaminated by fossil fuel byproducts.

Both Duke Energy and Freedom Industries have recently poisoned Virginia's waterways with coal byproducts.

More than a dozen tanker cars were involved in this derailment and hundreds of people in nearby homes and businesses had to be temporarily evacuated until the fire burned itself out.

Event - Improving NJ Air Quality: Focus on Transportation

Are Greener Cars in NJ's Future? An NJ Spotlight Roundtable will take place on Friday, Nov 15 11:45 am to to 1:30 pm at Rider University, the Mercer Room (Daly Dining Hall) 2083 Lawrenceville Road in Trenton, NJ. Launched in 2010, NJ Spotlight publishes daily, original stories, centered on news and policy issues, with a focus on energy, education, state finance and healthcare. Learn more at www.njspotlight.com.

Cleaning the air in the Garden State means using cleaner fuels for transportation. While motor vehicle manufacturers are developing more low-emission vehicles, the real question is, how will these be powered? Will they be plug-in electric vehicles, compressed natural gas vehicles, or something else all together? Should private entities be building these non-gasoline fueling stations of the future? Should ratepayers be shouldering the cost?… Show more What role should the government play?

Video - Train Carrying Oil Derails Illustrating the Dangers of Transporting Fossil Fuels

There has been a lot of press on the dangers of using pipelines to transport oil (or tarsands bitumen), but alternative forms of transportation are no safer. In this video you can see what happens when a train carrying oil derails and causes a massive explosion and fire. This video from the town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec convincingly makes the point that in addition to climate change causing emissions, fossil fuels cannot be safely transported, even by rail. This is yet another reason to wean ourselves off fossil fuels and radically expand on reliance on clean and renewable sources of energy.

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The US Transportation Sector can Reduce Petroleum Use and GHG emissions by 80% over the Next Few Decades

According to a new government study an 80 percent reduction in petroleum use and GHG emissions is possible in the transportation sector by 2050. This is the finding of research by the Transportation Energy Futures (TEF) project, a nine-part study undertaken by the Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and Argonne National Laboratory.

As reported in CleanTechnica, NREL Senior Analyst Austin Brown said: “Transportation accounts for 71 percent of total US petroleum consumption and 33 percent of our nation’s total carbon emissions. It presents significant opportunities to cut oil dependence while taking a bite out of greenhouse gas emissions. The finding that there are many options increases our confidence that a clean transportation solution is possible in the long term.”

University of Washington Sustainable Transportation Programs (Video)

Sustainable Transportation Ideas of the Future (Video)

Sustainable Transportation Brought to you by Better Place