BARLOW: Lac Megantic: Don't Blame the Engineer

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Lac Megantic: Don't Blame the Engineer | Maude Barlow

< http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/maude-barl ... 60794.html >

A collision of water, oil, and transport deregulation in Lac-Mégantic

How easy it would be to lay the blame for the tragedy in Lac-Mégantic on the engineer who ran the train. But the real responsibility lies with the governments on both sides of the border who have deregulated their transport sectors, gutted freshwater protections and promoted the spectacular growth and transport of new and unsustainable fossil fuels.

Starting back in the 1970s, the US government deregulated rail transport, allowing deep staff reductions, the removal of brakemen from trains and lower safety standards for shipping hazardous materials. Canadian governments followed suit and allowed the railways to self-regulate safety standards and continue to ship oil in the older, accident-prone tanker cars of the kind that crashed into Lac-Mégantic.

Just last year, Transport Canada gave Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railways the green light to run each train with just one engineer, which explains how one man came to be in charge of 72 cars and five locomotives carrying combustible energy through inhabited communities.

The Harper government, meanwhile, has gutted environmental regulation and freshwater protection in order to speed up the development of the Alberta tar sands.

Its victims include the Fisheries Act, the Navigable Waters Protection Act and the whole environmental assessment process. Ninety-nine percent of all lakes and rivers in Canada, including Lac-Mégantic, are no longer protected from pipelines carrying bitumen or fracked oils near, around or under them.

The Quebec government estimates that at least 5.6 million litres of crude oil has escaped into the environment.

Both the American and Canadian governments have chosen to subsidize and promote the production of fracked oil and gas as well as heavy oil from tar sands operations over conservation and alternative, renewable sources of energy. The tankers that slammed into Lac-Mégantic were carrying shale oil from the Bakken fields in North Dakota, a deposit being mercilessly mined, as are many other sites across North America, in spite of their direct threat to local water supplies and human health.

The energy industry has plans to increase production in the Alberta tar sands five-fold, and is now shipping raw, unrefined bitumen, diluted with heavy chemicals, across the continent, by pipeline, railcar tankers and on ships on the Great Lakes. Shipments of oil by rail have increased by 28,000 percent since 2009 and barges and ships carry almost 4 million tons of oil and petroleum products (about 4 billion litres) to or from U.S. Great Lakes ports every year and more between Canadian ports.

Some are using this tragic rail accident as an argument in favour of the controversial oil pipelines. But pipelines also pose a serious threat to human health and the environment when they carry hazardous materials. The International Energy Agency says that pipelines spill far more oil than rail.

On average, in Alberta alone there are an average of two spills every day -- over 770 spills every year. The danger of increased shipments of tar sands oil across the Great Lakes cannot be exaggerated.

The combination of a dramatic increase in North American fossil fuel production combined with deregulation of modes of oil and gas transportation and the removal of almost all protections for Canada's freshwater heritage is a recipe for further accidents, spills and tragedies. Those who do not learn from their mistakes are bound to repeat them.

All across the country, we are in mourning for the victims of this accident. The very least we can do for the families and friends of lost loved ones in Lac-Mégantic is right the wrongs that led to that terrible night.

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Lac-Mégantic disaster oil more dangerous than stated

[ http://www.cbc.ca/m/rich/business/story ... antic.html ]

Transportation Safety Board says crude oil in train tankers was misclassified

CBC News Posted: Sep 11, 2013 9:59 AM ET
Last Updated: Sep 11, 2013 11:27 AM ET

The crude oil carried in tankers that derailed and ignited in Lac-Mégantic, Que., in July was misclassified as a less volatile substance, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada announced this morning.

At a news conference in Ottawa, the lead investigator on the rail disaster, Donald Ross, said that misclassification, "explains in part why the crude ignited so quickly once the train cars were breached."

The revelation comes after tests were conducted on oil contained in nine train cars belonging to Montreal, Maine & Atlantic railway that were not involved in the explosion.

Dangerous goods
Flammable liquids included in Class 3, Flammable Liquids, are in one of the following packing groups:
Packing Group I, if they have an initial boiling point of 35 C or less at an absolute pressure of 101.3 kPa and any flash point;
Packing Group II, if they have an initial boiling point greater than 35 C at an absolute pressure of 101.3 kPa and a flash point less than 23 C; or
Packing Group III, if the criteria for inclusion in Packing Group I or II are not met.
Source: Transportation Safety Board of Canada

The 72-car, unmanned train rolled down an incline into the core of the town, left the tracks and exploded early in the morning on July 6. The blast and fires killed 47 people and destroyed several blocks neighbouring the train tracks.

The TSB said it was immediately issuing safety advisory letters to rail authorities in Canada and the U.S., where the train originated, to review the processes for suppliers and companies transporting dangerous goods to ensure the description of the products are accurate and documented properly.

The crude oil in the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic train that derailed in Quebec had been listed as packing group three, the least hazardous on the scale.

The oil actually had the properties of a class two substance, which also includes goods like gasoline, that have a lower flash point and will therefore ignite quicker.

It's the responsibility of the importer, in this case New Brunswick-based Irving Oil, to ensure the description of the products are correct, Ross said.

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[ http://www.cbc.ca/m/rich/business/story ... antic.html ]

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Dangerous Bomb Trains Return to the Town That Was Devastated By One

Oil-by-rail again runs through Lac-Megantic, Quebec, the scene of a horrific explosion.

[ http://www.alternet.org/environment/dan ... 31394&t=13 ]

By Justin Mikulka / DeSmogBlog January 3, 2015

“We’re seeing strong growth. We’re seeing some large accounts come back. The future is bright.”

According to the Portland Press Herald, that was the assessment of the future by Ryan Ratledge, the current chief operating officer for Central Maine and Quebec Railway, the railroad that runs through Lac-Megantic, Quebec.

Central Maine and Quebec Railway is the new name of the railroad that was operating the train that caused the oil train disaster in Lac Megantic in July 2013 that resulted in the death of 47 people. As DeSmogBlog reported previously, cost cutting measures by the railroad were directly linked to the cause of the accident.

After the accident, the railway declared bankruptcy and the assets were purchased by Fortress Investment Group, which currently manages over $66 billion in assets.

The oil trains will start rolling through downtown Lac-Megantic again by 2016. Other “dangerous goods” are already being shipped on the railway.

While many see the tragedy in Lac-Megantic as a dire warning about what happens when the lust for profit goes unregulated with no regard for the environment or safety, for the multi-billion-dollar hedge fund Fortress, it is just another success story. Every crisis is an opportunity. Disaster capitalism works.

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[ http://www.alternet.org/environment/dan ... 31394&t=13 ]