Call to Action— Nationwide protests and formation of an International Oil Train Activists movement

This is a call for activists to join in creating an International Oil Train Activists movement and to help organize mass non-violent protests across the North American continent against explosive oil trains.

We have three nationwide protest actions.  

First contact your state Emergency Management Agency and fill out a public records request for information which the railroads have provided to the EMA’s in relation to DOT Emergency Order DOT-OST-2014-0067 and which was due by June 7, 2014. 

Find your state EMA-- http://www.fema.gov/state-offices-and-agencies-emergency-management

For more info about DOT Emergency Order-- http://www.dot.gov/briefing-room/emergency-order   

We have filed an information request here in Washington state and the EMA informed us that the railroad would likely seek a court injunction against our request.  This is GREAT because it means that the railroad is spending between several hundred and several thousand dollars to keep one person from one group from getting this information!  Let’s see how many people we can get to request this information and how much money we can cost the railroads.   We plan to request this information in 49 US states.  

When you request info from your state EMA please let us know vancouveractionnetwork@gmail.com

Since the railroads won’t release their oil train information we can just generate the information ourselves.  You can start a 100% Oil Train Watch in your city, town, or neighborhood by using Twitter on a computer or smart phone.  If you see a 100% oil train Tweet the time, location, direction of train travel, and your state’s abbreviation in the hashtag such as #waoiltrainwatch for Washington state  or #tnoiltrainwatch for Tennessee.  By watching and recording these trains we can be a warning siren for first responders, elected officials and the general public with real time information.  We can also use this information to provide a check on the info the railroads provide to the state EMAs, and on possible total oil train volume violations of air quality permits of current export facilities.        

Let us know you are Tweeting about 100% oil trains at vancouveractionnetwork@gmail.com

The Department of Transportation and Federal Railroad Administration are the two agencies that regulate Hazardous Materials shipping via railroads.  We demand that they immediately issue an Emergency Order halting the hauling of any type of crude oil in the outdated and unsafe DOT 111 and DOT 111a railcars.  By organizing a protest in your own city or state you will be joining in the growing movement to bring a halt to these explosive oil trains before the next city is vaporized, life is lost, or environment spoiled.     

The Department of Transportation has the authority to deem the DOT 111 and DOT 111 a railcar fleet unsafe for hauling explosive crude oil yet they have been dragging their feet on taking real action.  We demand they take immediate action.  Each state has multiple regional DOT offices and we need protests at each one.   

July 6, 2014 marks the one year anniversary of the first major oil train explosion in Canada which took the lives of 47 people.  The week of July 6-13, 2014 is an international week of action to mark this anniversary and make sure these folk’s lives were not lost in vain.   Your actions should not be limited to this one week as we are dealing with an entrenched oil and rail industry and don’t settle for anything less than the a complete ban on any oil shipped by DOT 111 and DOT 111a cars.  

Go to- www.stopoiltrains.org to list your protest. 

When you organize a protest please contact us at vancouveractionnetwork@gmail.com    

Department of Transportation state/ regional offices and headquarters in Washington DC-- https://fhwaapps.fhwa.dot.gov/foisp/staffnetStateDOT.do

and

Federal Railroad Administration regional offices -- http://www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P0244

Headquarters Washington DC  

Region 1 Cambridge, MA Region 2 Crum Lynne, PA Region 3 Atlanta, GA  Region 4 Chicago, IL Region 5 Fort Worth, TX Region 6 Kansas City, MO  Region 7 Sacramento, CA  Region 8 Vancouver, WA

Consider attending the Washington Oil Train Summit August 22-23, 2014 at Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA.  More info at washingtonoiltrainsummit.blogspot.com