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Big Oil corporation Vancouver Energy wants to build the largest Bomb Train terminal in North America. Many communities could be at risk, with over 350,000 gallons of oil to be transported daily. Click here to tell Washington Governor Jay Inslee to stop these crude cars from leaving the station.
Friend,
Last week, President Obama signed a bill into law that lifted the 40-year ban on crude oil exports.1 We fought that dangerous decisions for months, telling every senator that the consequences of lifting the ban included 4,500 new bomb trains a day traveling our nation.2 Now we know a big portion of those trains would be coming to the Port of Vancouver terminal, right along the Columbia River near Portland, Oregon.
But this is not your everyday Bomb Train terminal -- it would allow nearly 4,000 rail cars a week to carry over 350,000 gallons of crude oil.3 That's a lot of oil and a lot of risks to our communities, water and air. And the big oil company that stands to benefit, Vancouver Energy, is not planning to transport your average crude. In fact, they're planning to transporting some of the most volatile, combustible oil on the market.4
It simply makes no sense to open this crude by rail proposal a few weeks after nearly 200 nations agreed in Paris to reduce global warming pollution and cut the use of fossil fuels. It also doesn't makes sense considering that leading scientists tell us we need to keep 80 percent of fossil fuels in the ground to avert climate catastrophe. That's why I need you to submit a comment to Gov. Jay Inslee today and tell him to stop this crude plan from being constructed. Will you click here and add your voice?
We're no strangers to the devastating effects of bomb train transport. Since 2010, our nation has experienced nearly 400 train derailments that spilled over one million gallons of crude oil into our communities and waterways.5 That's bad enough, but the Vancouver Energy plan would increase the risk of accidents because of the sheer volume of trains they want to dispatch, but also because they have demonstrated they're just not to be trusted. Just this week, a local Oregon newspaper outlined their pattern of deception.6 Here' a snapshot of their litany of lies:
- They told the public the terminal would result in annual tax revenues of $2 billion; when in fact it would only be $7.8 million - a difference of 25,000 percent.
- They neglected to tell the public they paid over $1.1 million in penalties for violating the Clean Air Act in 2013.
- They claim that extraction and use of crude oil from the Bakken region produces less global warming pollution than other oil. But both the Carnegie foundation and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) have refuted these claims and demanded Vancouver Energy set the record straight.
These are the kinds of slick maneuvers we've come to expect from Big Oil corporations like Vancouver Energy. We can't trust them to tell the truth, and we sure can't trust them to operate a Bomb Train terminal safely. We need to generate as many comments as possible on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) so that Gov. Inslee sees the light before we see fires and explosions. Click here to leave your comment and lets put the breaks on these Bomb Trains.
Thanks for all you do,
Anthony for Environmental Action
1. Chapell, Bill. Obama Signs $1.8 Trillion Tax and Spending Bill Into Law. NPR. December 18, 2015.
2. Lee-Ashley, Matt and Cassady, Alison. The Environmental Impacts of Exporting More American Crude Oil. Center for American Progress. August 21, 2015.
3. Mesh, Aaron. A New Terminal Could More Than Double the Number of Oil Trains Traveling Through the Columbia River Gorge. Willamette Week. December 16, 2015.
4. Davis, Rob. Everything You Need To Know About Oil Trains in Oregon, Washington. The Oregonian. July 14, 2014.
5. Nunez, Christina. This Map Shows How U.S. Oil Train Accidents Skyrocketed. National Geographic. May 1, 2015.
6. The Columbian: In Our View, Losing Benefit of Doubt. December 20, 2015.
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