I just finished watching Gasland Part II.
"Derailment kills 1, sparks explosions
LAC-MEGANTIC — Fires continued burning late Saturday nearly 24 hours after a train carrying crude oil derailed in eastern Quebec, sparking explosions and a blaze that destroyed the center of a town and killed one person. Police said they expected the death toll to increase. Between 1,500 and 2,000 people were forced from their homes in the town about 10 miles from the Maine border. The cause of the accident was believed to be a runaway train, the railway’s operator said. The president and CEO of Rail World Inc., the parent company of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, said the train had been parked uphill of Lac-Megantic (AP)."
"Derailment devastates Quebec town near Maine; 5 dead, dozens missing" Associated Press, July 08, 2013
LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec — As firefighters doused still-burning railway cars filled with oil, more bodies were recovered Sunday in this devastated town about 10 miles from the Maine border, raising the death toll to five after a runaway train derailed, igniting explosions and fires that destroyed the downtown district....
Of course, it could never happen to your town.
All but one of the 73 cars were filled with oil, which was being transported from North Dakota’s Bakken oil region to a refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick.
Expect a lot more of this with fracking becoming a method of big energy production, Keystone pipeline or not. WTF is North Dakota oil doing going through Canada to to be refined in New Brunswick anyway?
The eruptions early Saturday morning sent residents of Lac-Megantic scrambling through the streets under the intense heat of towering fireballs and a red glow that illuminated the night sky.
Local Fire Chief Denis Lauzon likened the charred scene to ‘‘a war zone.’’
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"Death toll rises to 13 in Canada train derailment; Investigators able to get closer to wreckage" by Benjamin Shingler | Associated Press, July 09, 2013
LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec — The death toll in the horrific oil train derailment in Quebec reached 13 on Monday, while about 40 people remained missing, officials said after investigators finally got near where the runaway train exploded....
All but one of the train’s 73 tanker cars were carrying oil when they came loose early Saturday, sped downhill nearly 7 miles into the town of Lac-Megantic, near the Maine border, and derailed. At least five of the cars exploded.
The blasts destroyed about 30 buildings, including a public library and a bar that was filled with revelers....
The area remained part of a criminal investigation and that all options were being explored by investigators, including the possibility that someone intentionally tampered with the train, said Quebec provincial police Sergeant Benoit Richard.
What?
Queen Elizabeth II earlier expressed deep sadness over the disaster Monday, saying in a message through the federal government that the loss of life ‘‘has shocked us all.’’ Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper toured the town Sunday and compared it to a war zone.
The train’s owners said they believed brake failure was to blame....
Officials were also looking at a fire on the locomotive of the same train a few hours before the derailment.
Meanwhile, crews were working to contain 27,000 gallons of light crude that spilled from the tankers and seeped into nearby waterways. There were fears it could flow into the St. Lawrence River all the way to Quebec City....
Don't worry; as we saw with the Exxon spill in Arkansas and all the other spills across the world, the corporate AmeriKan pre$$ will minimize it.
The heart of the town of about 6,000 was leveled — including a popular bar where several dozen revelers were believed to have been at the time of the explosions. About a third of the community was forced out of their homes.
Sophie L’Heureux, a manager at the bar, was woken up at home by the explosion. She said she believed there were about 50 people in the bar, including many close friends.
‘‘I’m in survival mode right now. My priority is to try to sleep if I can, eat if I can,’’ she said. ‘‘For the rest, it’s one minute, one day at a time.’’
Raymond Lafontaine, who believed he lost three members of his family, including his son, said he was angry with what appeared to be lack of safety regulations.
‘‘We always wait until there’s a big accident to change things,’’ he said. ‘‘Well, today we’ve had a big accident, it’s one of the biggest ever in Canada.’’
Fire chief Denis Lauzon said firefighters in a nearby community were called to the locomotive blaze a few hours before the derailment. Lauzon said he could not provide additional details about that fire since it was in another jurisdiction....
There was no reason to suspect any criminal or terror-related activity, said Joe McGonigle, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway’s vice president of marketing.
Related: Canadian "CIA-Duh" Overflows
No reason to even suspect, huh?
Lafontaine said the government needs to take a hard look at the risks of transporting oil by train — especially through communities....
Agreed, and you can imagine how I feel about there being nuclear waste being transported by rail.
The growing number of trains transporting crude oil in Canada and the United States had raised concerns of a major disaster, and this derailment was sure to bolster arguments that a proposed oil pipeline would be safer.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm!!
The train’s oil was being transported from North Dakota’s Bakken region to a refinery in New Brunswick on Canada’s East Coast.
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I'll bet that's a Keystone in their argument for a pipeline.
Related:
"A fire on the train a few hours before the disaster set off a deadly chain of events that has raised questions about the safety of transporting oil in North America by rail instead of pipeline. The derailment also raised questions about the safety of Canada’s growing practice of transporting oil by train, and is sure to support the case for a proposed oil pipeline running from Canada across the U.S. — a project that Canadian officials badly want. Efforts continued Tuesday to stop waves of crude oil spilled in the disaster from reaching the St. Lawrence River, the backbone of the province’s water supply."
And who benefits while the water supply is spoiled?
Also see:
Crews removing spilled fuel from Mystic River
Proposal for Northern Pass transmission line shifts
"2,000 rally in N.Y. capital against hydraulic fracturing" Associated Press, June 18, 2013
ALBANY, N.Y. — About 2,000 opponents of fracking rallied Monday outside New York’s Capitol, and a new statewide poll found a slight increase in voters statewide who oppose the method of drilling for natural gas.
The demonstrators cheered announcement of the poll results while urging Governor Andrew Cuomo to permanently ban hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in New York, saying it would harm the environment. Pending legislation would impose that moratorium, but rally organizers acknowledged it is unlikely to be enacted.
See: Fracking Flatulence
Gasland II will $how you how powerful is the $hale lobby.
‘‘There is no compromising our water, our air, our health, and our future,’’ organizer Julia Walsh told demonstrators, noting they were working against the oil and gas industry lobby. The demonstrators called instead for the Cuomo administration to further increase the state’s renewable energy sources, including a proposal that wind power provide 40 percent of its needs by 2030.
The poll showed 44 percent of New York voters opposed and 37 percent supporting drilling, compared with 41 to 39 percent last month. ‘‘It’s now a 7 point margin in opposition. That’s the largest it’s been in the past year,’’ pollster Steven Greenberg said.
Energy industry officials want Cuomo to end New York’s five-year ban on shale gas development and allow drilling in much of the state’s Southern Tier.
Cuomo’s decision is on hold while the state continues to study fracking’s potential impact.
Fracking involves injecting large volumes of water, plus sand and chemicals, deep underground to break apart rock and free the gas.
At the rally, singer Natalie Merchant performed ‘‘New York is Your Land,’’ a variation on the Woody Guthrie folk song, and the crowd joined, ending with the chorus, ‘‘New York was meant to be frack-free.’’
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"Fracking opposition stepped up in N.E.; Bans on practice, disposal considered; in Maine, a protest of transport train" by Jay Fitzgerald | Globe Correspondent, July 05, 2013
Opposition to the drilling technique known as fracking is growing in New England as lawmakers consider banning it in their states and environmentalists escalate protests against the controversial practice.
Really, who could be against energy independence and boom?
Petroleum industry officials say there’s little chance of fracking taking place in New England, but some environmentalists and politicians say they’re taking no chances.
Related: Flabbergasted at Boston Globe Flatulence
And I'm flabbergasted at the distortions, too.
Vermont recently became the only state to prohibit fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, and similar legislation has come under consideration in Massachusetts, Maine, and Connecticut.
And opponents are not stopping there. They’re also pushing legislation that would ban the disposal in their states of waste water and chemicals from fracking operations in other parts of the country, such as in Pennsylvania and North Dakota. Fracking pumps pressurized water mixed with sand and chemicals into wells to crack shale deposits and release reserves of natural gas and crude oil.
Related: Chemicals Used in Fracking
Probably a good idea to ban the stuff, huh?
In Maine, meanwhile, protesters are trying to stop the transportation through their state of fossil fuels extracted through fracking in other parts of the country. Last week, six protesters belonging to 350 Maine, an environmental group, were arrested after they tried to block a rail line to stop the delivery of hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil from fracking operations in North Dakota.
Hey, you are better off with a pipeline, or haven't you heard?
Train deliveries of crude through New England, to an Irving Oil refinery in St. John’s, N.B., have become routine over the past year, according to rail and energy industry officials.
Then expect more of these accidents.
“It’s beyond the time to move slowly and cautiously,” said Read Brugger, a coordinator for 350 Maine and one of the six protesters arrested. “This is a form of extreme energy production, and it’s a part of a business plan that will wreck this planet.”
Fracking is controversial because the process poses environmental risks such as the contamination of drinking water and air pollution. Environmentalists also worry that increased production of gas and oil will only deepen the country’s dependence on fossil fuels and accelerate climate change. Burning these fuels, whether in cars or power plants, produces carbon dioxide, a key contributor to global warming and climate change.
Another key contributor: Hot Over Obama's Hypocrisy
How about shutting down the biggest polluter on the planet, the U.S. war machine?
But fracking also has transformed energy production in North America, driving natural gas prices to some of the lowest levels in years and leading the International Energy Agency to project that the United States will surpass Saudi Arabia as the world’s biggest oil producer over the next decade.
It's worth the drinking water, isn't it?
Energy industry officials say fracking has an excellent track record of safety. They also say they are stunned and baffled by the escalation of antifracking activities in New England, if only because it’s unlikely that fracking will occur here.
Maybe we just care about people and the planet, ever think of that?
The only substantial underground deposits of natural gas in New England are believed to be within the so-called Hartford Basin, which runs from Connecticut through central Massachusetts and into southern Vermont.
That's right under me.
But the Hartford Basin is considered too small to make drilling pay, particularly compared to much larger fields known as the Marcellus Shale Formation, which runs through West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York, and the Bakken Formation, which is located mostly beneath North Dakota and the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
“Fracking will never be done in Massachusetts and probably never in all of New England,” said Steve Dodge, associate director of the New England Petroleum Council, an industry group....
They will come for it some day. The same thing was said about deep water drilling before the Gulf of Mexico disaster.
Even if it’s unlikely fracking would occur in Massachusetts, said Representative Denise Provost, sponsor of the antifracking bill on Beacon Hill, the state needs to protect itself.
“There used to be a time when the Canadian Tar Sands were thought not to be expansive and viable, but they are today,” said Provost, a Somerville Democrat. The oil found in the loose sand and sandstone in Alberta has become a major — and also controversial — source of energy production in North America.
Similar antifracking bills have been filed in Connecticut and Maine, but have stalled because many state leaders want to promote the increased use of natural gas, which is cleaner burning and less expensive than oil products, environmentalists say.
And the letter after their name doesn't $eem to matter much.
In Maine, environmentalists recently launched a campaign to get universities and nonprofits to divest their endowment investments in energy companies that engage in fracking.
Related: Sunday Globe Special: Taking Global Warming on Faith
The BDS movement makes some uncomfortable.
As for the recent attempt to block a train delivery by putting a makeshift scaffold on a Pam Am Rail track line in Fairfield, Brugger said it was part of an escalation of protests to stop fracking everywhere....
Cynthia Scarano, executive vice president of North Billerica-based Pan Am Rail, said such demonstrations pose dangers to both protesters and train crews. Pan Am Rail now routinely transports crude oil from North Dakota over its Boston-Maine line, which runs from the New York border through Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine....
How odd that three days later a train derails, huh?
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Related:
"British firm seeks fracking permit; Wants to test well for shale gas" by Stanley Reed | New York Times, July 06, 2013
LONDON — Cuadrilla Resources, a private equity-backed British oil and gas company, continues to try to find a way to produce shale gas in its home country.
On Friday, the company said it was applying for a permit to hydraulically fracture an exploration well that it has drilled at Grange Hill in Lancashire in northwest England. The company hopes to be able to test the well next year. The company also said it planned to ask for permission to drill and fracture six new wells in the region.
And Britain is only a small island. Won't take long to ruin the country this way.
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves pumping large amounts of liquids and sand or other material down wells to loosen rock formations so that the oil and natural gas they contain flow out.
Cuadrilla’s efforts to pioneer shale gas production in Britain has not been without setbacks. An attempt to fracture another well in 2011 set off small tremors and led to an 18-month moratorium on fracking that was only recently lifted.
Oh, yeah, did I mention that FRACKING CAUSES EARTHQUAKES?
Despite tens of millions of dollars in expenditure, the company still has no production outside of a 1990s-era gas well in the same area.
The company also delayed recent plans to drill for oil in West Sussex, after environmental regulators determined it needed additional permits.
Despite the costs and delays, there have been some recent upbeat omens for the company and other would-be shale gas drillers. Britain’s coalition government sees shale gas as a possible replacement for the declining production in the North Sea and is broadly supportive.
The Liberal-Democrats really are a junior bitch, aren't they?
“There is a general recognition we should be getting on with the exploration phase,” said Francis Egan, Cuadrilla’s chief executive.
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Tea tastes a little funny, doesn't it?
If I find any more articles on fracking I will be sure to post.
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"Quebec tragedy unlikely to slow oil shipments via rail; With shipments of crude rising, some say an accident as happened in Quebec was inevitable, but others say trains are the only — and safest — way to move the fuel" by Jay Fitzgerald | Globe Correspondent, July 10, 2013
The weekend’s tragedy in Quebec, where at least 15 people were killed after an oil tanker train derailed and exploded in a small town near the Maine border, probably will not slow the tremendous growth in rail shipments of oil across New England and North America, local and national industry officials say.
Two Massachusetts companies, Global Partners LLC of Waltham and Pan Am Railways of Billerica, are part of this rail boom and should continue to benefit from it, analysts said. With production surging in North Dakota and western Canada, and no major pipelines connecting the oil fields to coastal refineries, there are few alternatives to rail to help meet the demand for gasoline, diesel, and other petroleum products.
“It’s something that’s really increased in the past year and a half,” Cynthia Scarano, executive vice president of Pan Am Railways, said of train shipments of crude oil from western North America through New England in particular.
“The trends are definitely pointing in the direction of increased shipments.”
You will just have to "live" with it -- or not.
With about 2,000 miles of rail lines in New England, Pan Am Railway regularly ships an undisclosed amount of crude oil from the Bakken shale fields in North Dakota through Massachusetts, southern New Hampshire, and Maine for eventual delivery to an Irving Oil refinery in St. John, New Brunswick.
Global Partners, meanwhile, has snapped up rail centers in the Northeast, including a facility in Albany, N.Y., and across the country in recent years to transport oil products. In the first quarter of this year, its sales soared by 40 percent to $5.6 billion, driven largely by Global Partners’ quickly growing “crude-by-rail” business, the company recently reported.
Global Partners officials did not respond Tuesday to several requests for interviews.
Related: Sunday Globe Special: Global Partners P.R. Firm
Doing damage control today.
The tragedy in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, has focused attention on the rapidly increasing use of rail to transport oil....
It's not a crime?
Meanwhile, the number of serious train accidents in the United States has declined significantly, from 867 in 2008 to 552 last year. Holly Arthur, a spokeswoman for the American Association of Railroads, said 2012 was the safest year ever for the railway industry.
Hard to believe considering the age and disrepair of rail around the country, but okay.
But environmentalists, who have been mobilizing against the controversial drilling method known as “fracking” used in North Dakota and elsewhere, said the surge in oil moving by rail through communities made Lac-Megantic a tragedy waiting to happen.
Earlier this week, environmentalists protested at the headquarters of the owner of the derailed train, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway in Hermon, Maine, calling attention to rail safety and the role of fossil fuels in climate change. Some of those protesters included people who were arrested last month after they tried to block a Pan Am Railway line in Maine that they believed would be used to transport crude oil through Maine to New Brunswick. The protesters were arrested for trespassing.
John Calandrelli, a program director at the Sierra Club of Connecticut, expects protests to escalate across New England over the issue of crude oil deliveries through the region.
“We’re trying to change a system that doesn’t want to change,” said Calandrelli of the oil and transport sectors.
“This is both a safety issue and an environmental issue.”
In Massachusetts, environmentalists beat back a proposal by a Global Partners subsidiary to transport ethanol through densely populated communities north of Boston to a facility in Revere. Global Partners withdrew the request for a rail license after the state Legislature approved an amendment that prohibited the storage of large quantities of ethanol near crowded neighborhoods.
“I heard about the devastating news in Quebec and thought, ‘That could have been us,’ ’’ said Roseann Bongiovanni, an environmental activist at Chelsea Collaborative, which helped fight the Global Partners rail plan.
B&M runs right through town I live in, too.
“The accident in Quebec shows that we need a lot more state regulation of these lines.”
But the federal government, not the states, regulates interstate rail. Industry officials say that is another reason why they expect crude oil deliveries to continue to grow.
“The bottom line is that there’s a demand for this oil,” said Richard C. Beall, a former railroad engineer and now a consultant for Railroad Litigation Experts, a railroad operations and safety consulting firm.
“We have a demand for more oil, and with that demand will be a demand for more trains. It’s not going away.”
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UPDATE: Cyclists launch anti-fracking drive in Greenfield
I guess the Globe didn't go along for that in-state bike ride.
