Page 16 - Flathead Beacon // 7.2.14

16 | JULY 2, 2014 NEWS FLATHEADBEACON.COM New Data Shows More Oil Passing Through Flathead
Montana joins other states in releasing figures on oil train shipments
By JUSTIN FRANZ of the Beacon
During the first full week of June, a dozen loaded oil trains rolled along Gla- cier National Park’s southern boundary, through downtown Whitefish and on to Lincoln County, according to new data from BNSF Railway and released by the State of Montana last week.
The disclosure comes nearly two months after the U.S. Department of Transportation issued an emergency order requiring all railroad companies carrying Bakken crude oil, including BNSF Railway, to notify state agencies of how many oil trains are being moved on a weekly basis.
Since then, BNSF and Montana Rail Link, the two railroad companies in Montana that are moving crude oil, have submitted weekly updates to the state. BNSF urged the state to only release the information to individuals and first re- sponders on a “need to know” basis and not publically for security reasons. The State of Montana disagreed and joined
A BNSF Railway oil train heads west between Shelby and Cutbank. BEACON FILE PHOTO
In January, BNSF Railway officials said at least one oil train a day traveled through the Flathead Valley on its way to refineries in Washington and Oregon.
The amount of oil moved on Amer- ica’s railroads has increased rapidly since 2008, when just 9,500 carloads of oil were moved. Five years later, in 2013, more than 400,000 carloads of oil were moved, due in large part to the Bakken oil boom.
But the movement of more oil has not gone without incident. On July 6, 2013, a runaway Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway oil train derailed and exploded in Lac-Megantic, Que., killing 47 people and leveling more than 30 buildings. The accident was the first in a series of explosive derailments on North Ameri- ca’s rails and since then there have been five major oil train derailments, most recently in Lynchburg, Va. when a CSX train derailed and exploded, spilling thousands of gallons of oil into the near- by James River.
In response to the derailments, gov- ernment agencies on both sides of the border are now considering strict rules on the movement of crude oil-by-rail. In Canada, the government is now requir- ing railroads and shippers to phase out the rupture prone DOT-111 tank cars that have been at the center of some of the high-profile wrecks.
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a growing number of states, including Washington and North Dakota, that have released the oil train data to the public.
BNSF spokesperson Matt Jones told the Beacon that while the railroad com- pany still believes the information is “sensitive” it is complying with the fed- eral order to provide the state with in- formation about oil trains.
According to BNSF documents post-
ed online by the state, from May 29 to June 4, nine loaded oil trains traveled through Flathead and Lincoln coun- ties. Ten loaded oil trains traveled through Glacier County. The following week, from June 5 to June 11, 12 load- ed oil trains traveled through Glacier, Flathead and Lincoln counties. During the same time period, 20 oil trains ran through Roosevelt County, the most of any county in the state.
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