It is reported that ten cars exploded or burned when a BNSF oil train derailed near a small town in North Dakota.
Look at the picture above. Huxley's day care is very close to these tracks, close enough that the day care home would be totally within that zone of buring fiery debris.
There are reports here and here.
From the Star Tribune:
Oil train derails, catches fire in central North Dakota, prompting evacuation of small town
An oil train derailed and caught fire early Wednesday in a rural area of central North Dakota, prompting the evacuation of a nearby town where about three dozen people live.
No injuries were reported in the accident, which happened about 7:30 a.m. near Heimdal, about 115 miles northeast of Bismarck. The residents who left were staying with family and friends, Wells County Emergency Manager Tammy Roehrich said.
Ten tanker cars on the BNSF Railway train caught fire, creating thick black smoke, state Emergency Services spokeswoman Cecily Fong said.
News Report:
We need to keep the Carbon in the ground, folks.
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This is one of the reasons why I never rode bulk carrier cars when I was tramping. There are many thousands of miles of BO tracks where tramps get off and hitch hike rather than stay on the cars. There are signals along the wayside that shows Bad Order sections, where engineers are required by law to slow train speed. Of the dozens of tramps I met on the BN/BNSF line, none would rise a liquid bulk carrier car. Union Pacific has even more BO sections than BNSF, with coal carriers dominating intramodel and piggies. Seems like a silly way to move fuel around.
Seems like a silly way to move fuel around.
There isn't a good way to move fuel around, at least not long distances. Trains can have incidents like this one and Lac Megantic. Pipelines can leak. Tankers can run aground and spill cargo. Trucks can get into accidents on highways.
One reason why Pittsburgh was a steel industry town for so many years was because it was close to the coal mines, so they didn't have to ship coal (which was the heaviest and therefore most expensive to transport of the resources needed at the time to produce steel) long distances. Same thing with industrial cities of north England: they were close to the coal mines, too. For similar reasons, many New England industrial towns were built around waterfalls (e.g., Lowell, Manchester, and many smaller towns).
But an accident like this is the worst possible outcome. We get all of the greenhouse gas emissions from that oil, and none of the energy.
BUT...BUT...but...that's why we need the pipeline as this is dangerous!!!! Of course we will be just as careful as this with the pipeline so don't worry!!
Ya Right!
"There isn’t a good way to move fuel around, at least not long distances."
I favor high-voltage electric power lines over the other alternatives. (Yes, I "pour" electrons as "fuel" into the battery "gas tank" of my car on a regular basis. I have yet to spill any of them or have them catch fire.)