Another Bomb Train has exploded in America. This one crashed into a house in West Virginia and sent a fireball hundreds of feet into the air. Sign here to tell President Obama enough is enough, it's time to ban the Bomb Trains for good.
Friend,
Last week in West Virginia, a train carrying crude oil from the "tar sands of America" crashed into a house and sent a fireball hundreds of feet into the air.1 The owner of the house managed to run outside just before he was crushed; nobody was hurt, this time.
But this isn't an isolated incident. It's part of a pattern of disaster that has seen more oil spilled in the past few months than in the previous 40 years combined2 -- and earned trains carrying crude oil a dirty nickname: Bomb Trains. There's only one real solution that works for the planet: Leave the tar sands and other extreme oil in the ground. So just like we're working to shut down Keystone XL, we need to shut down the bomb trains to stop the dirtiest oil from threatening the safety of our communities
But President Obama and his Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Foxx, have been dragging their feet on regulations on Bomb Trains -- bowing to industry pressure that says it's "too expensive" to protect people and planet.3 With final regulations due in just a few weeks, we're running out of time to convince the president's team to take action. Sign here to add your voice, and ban the Bomb Trains for good.
When a train carrying crude oil exploded in the Canadian town of Lac Megantic, killing 47 people and blowing up an entire town, it was a wake up call to all of us about the dangers of shipping crude oil by rail. But over a year later, the Department of Transportation has not issued any new rules on Bomb Trains, and is proposing to delay basic safety protections, like better breaks, even longer.
This is simply unacceptable. President Obama and his team need to know that it's only a matter of time before one of these trains does real damage to children, families and the planet. We shouldn't be waiting for regulations Big Oil considers convenient and affordable. We should place a flat-out ban on moving these dangerous oil products by rail -- and be one step closer to leaving fossil fuels in the ground where they belong. Sign here to send that message to President Obama and Secretary Foxx today.
Thanks,
Drew Hudson, and the team at Environmental Action
1 - WEWS News, VIDEO: Massive train explosion in West Virginia, February 16, 2014
2 - Curtis Tate, More oil spilled from trains in 2013 than in previous 4 decades, federal data show, McClatchy News Service, January 20, 2014
3 - Jim Snyder, Revised Oil-Train Safety Rule Said to Delay Upgrade Deadline, Bloomberg Business, February 12, 2015 |
