Posted on 02/23/2015 8:46:06 AM PST by Kaslin
Like a king cobra on speed, the CSX oil train cut through the falling snow and rolled along the tracks at 33 m.p.h.—transporting 3 million gallons of highly-flammable crude. But the convoy was a poor match for its cargo. At 1:20 p.m. Eastern time on February 16—35 miles outside of Charleston, West Virginia—the 109-car train derailed.
Fireballs sliced through the cold air; a house was leveled in flames; hundreds of home owners lost electricity and drinking water; and a Kanawha River tributary oozed with oil. One man told the Los Angeles Times that the spill emanated heat like an “atomic bomb.”
Had the derailment happened 35 miles sooner, Charleston could have been burned to the ground and the lives of the city’s 50,000-plus residents would have changed—or ended. Despite this horrific scare and bipartisan support for building pipelines to transport crude oil, President Obama is threatening to veto the development of Keystone, XL.
The Merriment Express
Modern pipeline technology is capable of transporting crude oil from places like North Dakota and Montana in a manner that is safer, more economical and more environmentally friendly than rail.
There are zero environmental arguments against building pipelines to transport crude oil. As I’ve written before, the administration’s own State Department has thrice declared Keystone XL to be an environmentally-safe project. Furthermore, TIME Magazine has shown that transporting crude oil via rail emits more emissions than via pipeline.
When pushed into a corner with such facts, self-proclaimed environmentalists refuse to concede their flawed logic. Instead they persist: “That’s why we shouldn’t be fracking or drilling at all! We should rely on wind and solar!”
Environmentalists-In-Name-Only (EINOs) who espouse such fantasy theories may as well be the conductors of the Merriment Express. There is no use denying that if EINOs are allowed to implement their enviro-fantasies in real-world public policy, innocent human beings will die.
Murder On The Merriment
47 people died horrific, painful deaths when an oil train derailed in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec in 2013. Last Monday’s spill in West Virginia is one of many close-calls that we should take as warning signs before more people die. For example, 14 oil cars derailed outside of a children’s museum in Lynchburg, VA in 2014. And, earlier this month, 29 cars carrying crude from the Bakken oil patch derailed on the perimeter of Timmins, Ontario.
By sheer luck or the grace of God, last Monday’s derailment occurred 35 miles after passing through Charleston and no one was killed. West Virginia law professor Patrick McGinley told the Associated Press that if Charleston had been hit, it would have been one of the largest catastrophes in American history.
Trains and railroads were not designed to safely transport millions of gallons of crude oil through residential areas. Pipelines, in contrast, are designed for this precise purpose.
Endangering human lives for political gain is not amusing. Nevertheless, despite bilateral support for Keystone XL, there are a handful of enviro-elites such as billionaire Tom Steyer who prefer to ignore reality and cruise along at top speed on the Merriment Express.
Saving The Earth and Her Most Precious Resource, Human Life
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to interview an authenticenvironmentalist. Her name is Tisha Schuller and she is the president and CEO of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association.
Schuller started out as an environmental consultant. She became passionate about petroleum when she realized that it was a product with a “transformative effect to be a solution for climate change and global poverty.” Plastics, steel, fertilizer, electronics, clothing as well as our transportation and shelter still come primarily from petroleum-refined products. Schuller pointed out: “Everything that’s fundamental to our way of life is based on petroleum products.”
A self-described “energy agnostic,” Schuller is committed to “research and development” of new forms of energy such as wind and solar. She is also unwilling to ask poor people to pay the price of replacing fossil fuels with renewables before the technology is competitive.
“‘I’m driving a Tesla,’ or ‘I have solar panels on my roof,’” are things that environmentalists may say to make themselves feel good, says Schuller. Environmentalists make the mistake of forgetting that “those things are about consuming” and there is “significant hypocrisy in making other people assume the cost” of your consumption of renewables.
“One fourth of U.S. citizens are living in poverty,” notes Schuller. Spikes in energy prices hit low-income families the hardest because they spend “25% of their income on energy.”
Residential electricity prices are up 39% according the Wall Street Journal. This price hike is due in part to the fact that taxpayers are being asked to subsidize higher-cost renewables while coal plants are being shut down under pressure from federal regulations.
Schuller suggests that Americans take a more rational approach to energy exploration and focus on how we can reduce consumption of all forms of energy as well as use the energy that we have available to us—such as oil and gas—to help more Americans dig themselves out of poverty while improving the quality of life for all.
Schuller’s philosophy is to find local or state-based solutions for utilizing energy. The Colorado Oil and Gas Association’s model in Colorado would be a great template for other states. Hint, hint.
Unless EINOs decide to end their fantasy train ride and start supporting oil pipeline development, “Murder on the Merriment Express” will be the tale of underprivileged people shivering as they struggle to pay their energy bills while other innocent Americans burn to death in tragic train derailments.
I’m not convinced those oil train wrecks of recent memory were accidents.
I wonder if the author understands the hyperbole. He used it so much it is hard to try and find real content in the writing.
Lousy News....Great Article
we must override and or ignore the EINOs
Train derailments are pretty common.
But they are relatively benign most of the time when flammable cargo isn’t involved.
http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/publicsite/graphs.aspx
Maybe, but there are several derailments per day in the US. Some of them are bound to involve oil trains.
Good that there are limits to environazi propaganda but I can't help wondering: What is the State Department doing passing judgement on internal US environmental questions (or any environmental questions)?
Why is diesel, a refined product of crude oil, not immediately flammable but this crude oil was?
I don’t know much about railroads, but I see a lot of tracks that look like they could use some serious maintenance, just like a lot of highways and bridges.
“I’m not convinced those oil train wrecks of recent memory were accidents.”......
There would be no argument here either. Much like the numerous “unexplained” refinery fires of late. Man made?
I don’t know much about railroads, but I see a lot of tracks that look like they could use some serious maintenance, just like a lot of highways and bridges.
Keystone XL pipeline is an international pipeline. Canada into the US. Therefore, it must pass the approval from the state department.
Ok. Understood. So a stamp of Lurch-OK isn’t good enough for the muzzie in chief....
-—yes-the upshot of stuff like this won’t convince the tree-huggers to okay pipelines—it’ll start them trying to stop train transport of petroleum products———
The many refinery fires are due to a lack of proper maintenance and operation, because of skeleton crews.
In my time as a refinery engineer, we had a walkthrough inspection on an hourly basis, but I doubt they have the personnel to it today.
Crappy thing to happen, but couldn’t happen to a better state.
Diesel has some of the lighter components removed that would exist in the crude oil. The crude oil will also contain heavier components as well.
The light molecules will flash easier and also typically ignite easier.
Now don’t take the hysterics of the language used in this article to represent fact of flammability.
Also if the train derailment involved tearing up of some of the metal, there likely are very hot spots initially that would ignite diesel or other products as well.
West Virginia has trended strongly conservative for at least 2 major elections
The general attitude in WV is essentially Conservative, however, the state only recently came under Republican control - controlled by Democrats for 80+ years. You talk to someone there, and you can tell their values are certainly Conservative, BUT, Ma n Pa voted Democrat, and Gma and Gpa voted Democrat and so on.
I lived there for 4 years. Worst 4 years of my life. Conservative or Liberal, the State just generally sucks, in my humblest of opinions. There's a reason WV is made fun of in movies and such. In general, it's true. The last straw for us was living down the road from the guy who got caught molesting the neighbor's dead pigmy goat while wearing women's lingerie and being entirely blitzed on bath salts. Lol. I can find the news link if you'd like.
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