Posted on 04/13/2014 8:40:38 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The explosion destroyed six city blocks. Several of the 30 burning buildings were incinerated. Many ruptured tanker cars were bunched together like folds in an accordion. Still others, intact, could detonate at any second, and Pellerin could tell that much of the 1.5 million gallons of spilled oil had ignited and poured through the small Quebec town like lava.
Canadian firefighters told Pellerin that “they actually saw people step out of their homes and be vaporized by the [burning] oil,” Pellerin told the U.S. Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee in Washington on Wednesday
(Excerpt) Read more at bangordailynews.com ...
/johnny
Pipelines are infinitely safer than rail cars. Sierra Club types don’t want us building pipelines.
You’d really want to see video of that?
I doubt people were vaporized by burning oil as they stepped out of their house.
My grandfather was working on an oil rig that hit a gas pocket. It ignited. He lasted 2 weeks. 2 horrible weeks.
He damn sure wasn't vaporized.
/johnny
But the pipeliners aren't contributing to the politically correct campaigns like the modern day 'Rockefellers' are.
Call it the Buffet tax. He’s the one profiting most from rail-based oil transport, and seems to have the ear of this administration.
Oops, make that Buffett, not Buffet.
OK, they were incinerated.
I don’t think the fire chief meant, “vaporized”, as in an instantaneous combustion. He probably meant it in terms of the degree of combustion. Once the people in the town were set afire by the oil, they were consumed until nothing substantial was left.
I think we can also accept some degree of exaggeration considering these people were ones he knew, and possibly were related to.
I don't know what share of that railroad Buffet owned, but it went bust. If I recall correctly, Buffet is invested in BNSF, an American railroad.
The big hit here is to place the public focus on the one working transport mechanism that hauls most of the crude oil from the Williston Basin (Bakken/Three Forks oil). If the transport mechanism is shut down by popular acclaim, some 750,000 barrels of oil a day won't make it to refineries, and a huge economic light will be extinguished.
People have come to North Dakota from all over the US and beyond to work in the oil industry or related good paying jobs, but it could look as dismal as other parts of the country if they can find a way to shut it down.
Crude oil doesn’t burn hot enough to instantly vaporize a human body.
Sorry about your grandfather, Johnny. None of us wants anything like that to happen. I know, I work out there.
Are we going to discount people’s testimonies, because they don’t quite use the vernacular correctly?
I don’t think he meant necessarily the word to mean how quick the people burned, but to the degree that they burned.
Pellerin wouldn't have any reason to exaggerate the fact$, would he?
Don't know squat about railroads. But, isn't their something like chocks that can mecanically lock railcars. Leaving an unattended engine seems nuts to me.
Depends on how big the fireball was
Each car has a set of hand-operated mechanical brakes. The policy is to lock down enough cars to keep the train from moving, even if the air compressor on the engine fails.
In this case, the engineer who was responsible evidently failed to lock down enough cars.
“Stepped out and were vaporized.”
Sounds like a humongous fireball to me
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.