A train carrying crude oil derailed in West Virginia Monday, causing a massive fires and forcing evacuations.
Here’s a report from the Associated Press via the New York Times:
West Virginia Train Derails, Sending Oil Tanker Into RiverOil from North Dakota’s shale fields was still burning in West Virginia a day after a train carrying more than 3 million gallons of crude derailed in a snowstorm, shooting fireballs into the sky.Hundreds of families were evacuated and nearby water treatment plants were temporarily shut down after 19 tanker cars left the tracks and caught fire, leaking oil into a Kanawha River tributary and burning a nearby house down to its foundation.”There’s nothing there,” said Democratic U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, who toured the scene. “All you can see is a couple of blocks sticking out of the ground. There’s some pickup trucks out front completely burned to the ground.”
The flames caused by the crash were unbelievable:
The accident has revived the debate over the Keystone XL Pipeline, a mode of fuel transport proponents claim is much safer.
FOX News reported:
Train derailment fuels debate over Keystone, oil pipeline safetyThe derailment of a train in West Virginia that sent flames soaring and at least some of the 3 million gallons of crude oil onboard into a Kanawha River tributary has prompted a renewed call for the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline as a safer alternative to rail transportation.Daniel Kish, an Institute for Energy Research vice president, said Wednesday that trains remain a safe way to move oil and that the U.S. rail industry has met the demands of the recent domestic-energy boom. But he said underground pipelines are safer. “Any time you make more trips — whether it’s trains, trucks or buses — accidents increase,” he said. “I’m not trying to scare people. But the records show that if you move more stuff there will be more problems.”
Democrats call themselves the party of progress yet they cling to trains, a mode of transport which enjoyed its heyday in the 19th century.
Forward!
Featured image via YouTube.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY