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Boat program statement – crude oil – post derailment in WV – 2/16/15
What will it take? How many more derailments? How many more explosions?
In the last two years there have been numerous accidents involving crude oil trains across the continent – and a town in Quebec was partly incinerated.
We have been warned. Can we learn and act before we pay such a terrible price? Or will we do as we almost always do and act after a tragedy occurs?
Just look at the video of the accident on Monday in West Virginia. Look at the enormous fireball. Look at the oil burning on the Kanawha River:
These exact same trains, carrying the exact same product, roll through our communities and along our rivers, from Buffalo to Albany, along the Mohawk, down the Champlain Valley and all along the Hudson River, through communities like Albany, Ravena, Catskill, Saugerties, Kingston, Newburgh, Haverstraw…. They roll through the heart of some of these communities, next to schools, next to hospitals, next to homes.
When you look at the videos from West Virginia, imagine the fireballs in our communities. Imagine our river on fire. Imagine our drinking water intakes closed. This is an unacceptable risk – and it’s for nothing – New York State does not profit from crude oil transport.
Federal regulators have failed to protect the public and the environment. The U.S. Department of Transportation can immediately order these tank cars – known to be inadequate – off our rails. But they have not.
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation has permitted the increase in crude oil transport through Albany up to 2.8 billion gallons per year. But when challenged to rescind these permits and use the law to protect us, New York State officials, including the governor, punt to the feds.
But the feds are dragging their feet. The federal DOT said new regulations on the transport of crude wouldn’t be released until May. Meanwhile, industry profits. And the public is forced to play Russian roulette.
New York State must act now to protect us, our rivers, our environment. Again and again, Gov. Cuomo and the DEC have argued that the rail companies have a legal right which pre-empts action by New York State.
Who do our officials work for? Why do they argue the case for industry and for the feds? We need them to argue our case. We call on the governor and DEC to fight for us, and for New York. Protect us. If you fight and lose, at least you have fought.
Gov. Cuomo can order the DEC, which he controls, to rescind the permits it granted companies in the Port of Albany to ship almost 3 billion gallons of crude oil per year through the port via rail and barge.
Gov. Cuomo can order the DEC, which he controls, to issue emergency orders which would immediately ban crude oil transfers through New York State, using regulations expressly written to protect New York citizens and our environment.
If terrorists had blown up all these trains across North America in the last year or two, the federal and state government would have taken action immediately. In fact, we’d probably be at war. But in this case, where Americans are being terrorized by crude oil and railroads, our government and agencies are impotent.
End crude oil transport in New York State now.
John Lipscomb became Riverkeeper’s boat captain in 2000. From March through December each year, he travels approximately 6000 nautical miles between New York Harbor and Troy or Fort Edward, searching out and deterring polluters, monitoring tributaries and waterfront facilities, providing support for scientific studies, and taking regional decision makers out on the river so that “the river has a chance to advocate for itself.”
