Don't let Washington be the site of the next oil train disaster. Take action now to put the brakes on the latest dangerous oil terminal proposal! |
Dear
On April 30, a train carrying crude oil ran off its tracks in downtown Lynchburg, Virginia, crashed into the James River and exploded, shooting flames 80 feet into the air. Thousands of gallons of oil from the wrecked train cars spilled into the river.
One witness described the chaotic scene: "The smoke was very thick, it was very dark, it was terrifying." Lynchburg was just the latest in a string of communities to be rudely awakened to the rising danger posed by unsafe shipments of crude oil by rail.
And now oil companies want to start moving more of these dangerous oil trains through Washington -- to two proposed oil export terminals at Grays Harbor.
Tell the Washington Department of Ecology and the City of Hoquiam to fully review the threats these terminals would pose on our environment, our climate and on the safety of our communities.
If these oil terminals are approved, they would bring 23 additional oil trains to Grays Harbor each week. These dangerous shipments of explosive crude would run through Spokane, along a large stretch of the Columbia River, up through Centralia and into Hoquiam. The oil would then be transferred into tankers and shipped through Grays Harbor for refining or export.
The risks to Washington communities, land and rivers are simply too great. Experts have known about the hazards posed by unsafe train cars for years. Recently, the outgoing head of the National Transportation Safety Board Deborah Hersman warned: "We are very clear that this issue needs to be acted on very quickly. There is a very high risk here that hasn't been addressed. ... They aren't moving fast enough. We don't need a higher body count before they move forward."
She couldn't be more right. There have been a record number of oil train disasters in the past year, including the tragic Lac-Mégantic disaster that took 47 lives in Quebec last summer. It's time to say enough is enough.
The last thing we need is more unsafe crude oil shipped through Washington! Take action now to put the brakes on these dangerous proposals.
After a year of oil train disaster after disaster, we know that any community can be thrown into chaos in the blink of an eye. Washington's natural beauty and communities are simply too important to be part of Big Oil's crude-by-rail gamble.
Thank you for protecting our communities,
Michael Marx
Sierra Club Beyond Oil Campaign Director
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