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OUTRAGE: Big Oil and the Railroad Barons are using a piece of the White House's new oil train rule that was supposed to increase transparency to hide the truth about Bomb Trains. Join us at a 'stop the oil trains' action in your city next month and help us uncover the truth.
Dear Friend,
Big Oil companies and their allies in the Railroad industry are using a loophole in the White House's weak oil train rules to keep the number of trains, their routes and the cargo of Bomb Trains being routed through our towns a secret. Even first responders, like fire fighters and EMT's, will have to ask for permission before being told whether Big Oil is shipping millions of gallons of highly explosive oil through populated areas.1
If we want to show the public how close we are to a Bomb Train disaster every day, we all need to show up at once, next week, for the Stop Oil Trains week of action. I know you've signed on in support, but the White House isn't listening (yet) and with these new secrecy rules, it's up to us to get the word out to the public. But to protect everyone from the dangers of bomb trains, it will take all of us acting together. Can you RSVP to join or host an action in your town next week?
Or if you can't attend, please chip in $15, $25 or $100 to support those who can.
When we heard that the Obama team was working on new rules to protect us from Bomb Trains, tens of thousands of Environmental Action members wrote to tell the Department of Transportation that there's no safe way to transport extreme crude. We were backed by members of the Senate, dozens of allies and the survivors of Bomb Train accidents in Canada and across the U.S.2 We all know that the only safe solution is to leave the tar sands, bakken crude and other extreme energy products in the ground.
The Department of Transportation said they were listening, but instead they met with the Big Oil companies and Railroad barons.3 And now, the proposed rules they put out last spring read like a polluter's wish list. We can't let Big Oil get the last word when it comes to shipping dangerous oil products through our towns.
That's why I'm asking you to join or host a Bomb Trains rally in your town. Big Oil will stop at nothing to extract, transport and burn every drop of oil in the ground -- even if it means putting our communities at risk. Now, they're trying to hide even the basic details about who is at risk. It's time for us to stand up and say: "No more."
Thanks,
Drew and the Bomb Train disposal crew at Environmental Action
1 - Curtis Tate, Railroads use new oil train rule to fight transparency, McClatchy news, June 25, 2015
2 - Drew Hudson, The Senate is moving (to stop the Bomb Trains), Environmental Action blog, March 27, 2015
3 - Justin Mikulka, Rail Industry Lobbied Against New Oil-by-Rail Safety Regulations The Day After Rail Accident, DeSmog Blog, March 15, 2015 |
