Thanks to Anna Maria Gibson with ABC News Radio for contacting us for an interview
this morning and thanks to the national audience who is listening on May 1,
2014.
We are sorry to learn about the oil train derailment and
explosion in Lynchburg, VA on April 30, 2014.
Our prayers go out to the residents of Lynchburg and all those living downwind
and downstream.
This oil train explosion is just the latest in a string of 5
oil train explosions which has rocked North America. It is unacceptable that the US government has
not intervened to keep North Americans safe.
It appears as though they have a “see
no evil” attitude toward the oil by rail industry considering that existing
laws prohibit Federal Railroad Administration and Department Of Transportation
rail safety inspectors from using monitoring equipment during their
inspections. This lack of proper
inspections from oil well to refinery has put us all at risk. The government is allowing the oil industry
to “self regulate” and it obviously isn’t working.
The rail car production industry is also to blame as they
are choosing to use unsafe, outdated rail technology in the construction of
these railcars. The oil companies are
also to blame for not scrubbing the explosive gases from the crude oil before
they ship it in these outdated rail cars.
If the US government refuses to conduct scientific monitoring
of explosive crude oil trains then it is up to the citizens to engage in such
monitoring. Vancouver Action Network
citizen scientists have recently started scientific monitoring of these trains using
a FLIR Gasfindir video camera and you can find YouTube videos of our monitoring
efforts below. We will continue to
engage in this valuable monitoring project and thank you for your support of
our efforts.
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