The
derailment of a 101-car CSX freight train on a bridge in a densely-populated
part of Philadelphia this past week should be yet another warning to
politicians who have become cheerleaders for oil and gas fracking.
The train had
been hauling crude oil from the Bakken Shale in North Dakota. A severe snow storm delayed by several days removing
the derailed cars and 80,000 gallons of crude oil from the decades-old bridge
over I-76 and the Schuylkill River, which flows into the Delaware River. Oil
and gas companies using horizontal fracking have made the Bakken the most
productive oil shale in the country.
Numerous
articles and scientific research studies have already shown the link between
horizontal fracking and health and environmental problems. But the
transportation of shale oil and gas by trains, trucks, and pipelines poses more
immediate threats.
About 92,000
of the 106,000 tanker cars currently in service were built before 2011 when
stricter regulations mandated new design. The older cars (DOT-111) have an
“inadequate design” and are susceptible to leaks and explosions in derailments,
according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
Railroad accidents in 2013 in the United
States accounted for about 1.15 million gallons of spilled crude oil, more than
all spills in the 40 years since the federal government began collecting data,
according to the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
(PHMSA).
Forty-seven persons were killed, and more
than 30 buildings destroyed by fire,
explosions, and smoke on a 73-car unmanned train that rolled down a
seven mile incline and derailed in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, July 6. Seventy-two
tanker cars of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic railroad were carrying crude
oil from the Bakken Shale to a New Brunswick refinery. The accident released
about 1.5 million gallons of crude oil; it was the worst rail disaster in North
America since 1989.
Less than a
week later, three tanker cars on a Norfolk Southern train carrying 90,000
gallons of ethanol exploded near Columbus, Ohio. The explosion led to the
evacuation of residents within a mile of the accident.
Three months
later, a Canadian National train hauling oil and gas derailed in Gainford,
Alberta; three of the tanker cars carrying liquefied natural gas had leaks and
were on fire as a result of the derailment. No injuries were reported.
In November
2013, a 90-car Genesee & Wyoming train, carrying about 2.7 million gallons
of crude oil from the Bakken Shale, derailed
near Aliceville, Ala., spilling about 750,000 gallons into surrounding
wetlands; fire and toxic smoke burned for more than a day. No immediate
injuries were reported, although the
effects of the fireball explosions and toxic smoke might not be known for
several months.
In December,
a 106-car BNSF train hauling Bakken Shale
crude oil slammed into a 112-car train carrying grain that had derailed
near Casselton, N.D. Explosions, fire, and toxic smoke led county officials to
urge evacuation of all residents within five miles of the accident. About
400,000 gallons of crude oil were spilled, according to estimates by the
National Transportation Safety Board.
A week
later, 45 homes were evacuated in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick, after a Canadian
National train carrying propane and crude oil from the Bakken shale derailed
and caught fire.
This month,
PHMSA issued a safety alert that “crude oil being transported from the Bakken
region may be more flammable than the traditional heavy crude oil.” Bakken
shale oil could cause evaporative losses of explosive volatiles benzene,
toluene, hexane, xylene, and hydrogen sulfide, all of which can cause death
from burns and respiratory failure.
Each day,
interstate carriers transport about five million gallons of hazardous
materials. Not included among the daily 800,000 shipments are the shipments by
intrastate carriers, which don’t have to report their cargo deliveries to the
Department of Transportation. I-80, which bisects Pennsylvania and the
Marcellus Shale, is one of the most heavily traveled routes for trucks hauling
chemicals to fracking sites. There have already been several spills from traffic
accidents. Contributing to the probability of increased disasters in
Pennsylvania is a road and bridge system that has deteriorated because of a
combination of increased truck traffic from the shale gas industry and decades
of neglect by the state’s politicians. Scott Christie, an executive with the
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, told a House committee, “Most of
these road-ways do not have sufficient strength to withstand the large amount
of trucks and other vehicles that are a part of Marcellus shale drilling.”
About
half of the nation’s 2.6 million miles of pipelines are at least 50 years old;
corrosion is responsible for between 15 and
20 percent of deaths, injuries, or property damage, according to
ProPublica, an independent investigative journalism news operation. More than
150 incidents a year involve large natural
gas transmission lines and the smaller distribution lines. Because
methane is explosive and flammable, problems can occur anywhere from the first
exploratory hole to delivery in pipelines to homes and businesses. There is at
least one major natural gas explosion, fire, or leak every week, according to
documentation compiled by Natural Gas Watch.
Pennsylvania’s Gas and Hazardous Liquids
Pipeline Act, which became law in December 2011, includes oversight of classes
2–4, but excludes Class 1 pipelines. A Class 1 location is any area with “10 or
fewer buildings intended for human occupancy within 220 yards of the
center-line of the pipeline,” according to PHMSA. About 1,300 miles of
Pennsylvania’s natural gas pipelines are Class 1 pipelines. No state or federal
agency has jurisdiction over pipelines in Class 1 rural areas, nor are operators required to
report any incidents, including property damage, injuries, or deaths associated
with those pipelines. Regulating Class I pipelines is “at the bottom of the
state’s priority list,” Patrick Henderson, energy executive for the Corbett
Administration, told the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette.
Nationally, PHMSA regulates only about
20,000 of 200,000 miles of natural gas gathering pipelines and only about 4,000
of the estimated 30,000–40,000 miles of hazardous liquid gathering pipelines.
Only about one-fourth of all oil, natural gas, and propane pipelines have been
inspected since 2006, according to Public Employees for Environmental Response
(PEER), which had to file a Freedom of Information Act suit request to get the public records.
Like the
aging pipelines, many of the railroad bridges over the Bakken and Marcellus
shales are decades old. Mile-long trains of tanker cars that are not designed
to carry crude oil, but travel between the oil fields of North Dakota and refineries
in Philadelphia put the entire nation at risk. Unlike the other derailments the
past six months, there were no leaks, explosions, or health problems caused by
the derailment of the CSX freight train in Philadelphia.
That will not
always be the case.
[Dr. Brasch’s latest book is Fracking Pennsylvania, an in-depth
analysis of the economic, health, and environmental effects of horizontal
fracturing in the United States.]
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