Western Railroad Discussion > Spokane (WA) City Council votes to regulate crude oil t

http://www.krem.com/news/Spokane-City-Council-votes-to-regulate-crude-oil-transportation-243498851.html

Too bad their voice doesn't matter...railroads are federally regulated.

Eric

Oh yea? The city also says I can not whistle downtown. Guess what my favorite thing to do downtown is?

The last paragraph of the article states...

"(Council president Ben) Stuckart also said one the reasons he has championed the resolution is because in 2013 alone, there had been more train oil spills the previous four decades combined."

Is this true?

Edit for clarification: It might be true he said this, my question is his "statistic" true of more oil train spills in 2013 than in the four decades from 1972 to 2012?

Edit #2 after searching for info like we all should:

"A new analysis of data from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has shown that more crude oil was spilled in US rail incidents last year than during the previous 37 years, since the federal government began to collect data on rail spills...
"The data suggests that in 2013 more than 1.15 million gallons of crude oil was spilled from rail cars...
"In contrast to 2013, the total crude oil spilled from 1975, when federal records began, to 2012 was 800,000 gallons. In fact in eight of those years not one drop of crude oil was spilt, and in five only one gallon or less was spilt (sic)."

Source:
More Oil Spilled in 2013 US Rail Incidents than Previous 37 Years Combined
http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/More-Oil-Spilled-in-2013-US-Rail-Incidents-than-Previous-37-Years-Combined.html



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/14 11:03 by SomethingsInMyEye.

Pacific5th Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Guess what my favorite thing to do
> downtown is?

Ending a question with a preposition?

Betsy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Pacific5th Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Guess what my favorite thing to do
> > downtown is?
>
> Ending a question with a preposition?


Are you saying that a preposition is a bad thing to end a sentence with?

If the Spokane city council wants to get reelected then they have to act like they are doing something to protect the city. That's their job. I'm sure they are well aware this is a symbolic gesture with little teeth. The bad side is it may put unnecessary fear into the population without just do cause.

My complaint is this has an anti-oil feel to it and is somewhat hypocritical. Dangerous materials have come through Spokane for years, maybe not in unit trains, but in freight trains none-the-less. Now all of a sudden a city council wants to make a stand...makes no sense to me. It's like saying they turned a blind eye to chemicals, explosives, ect. coming through the city in the past, now all of a sudden a couple of oil trains accidents elsewhere (one tragic, but on a short line railroad) have sounded the alarm bells. If they really cared they (and many other cities across the country) wouldn't have allowed residential and, in some cases, industrial development so close to railroad main lines. That's strictly the fault of city councils and states being greedy (for tax revenue) and also bowing to developer's wishes. A prime example is BNSF's mainline in Southern California. Lot's of tract homes, condo's and apartments built right up against the right-of-way. No buffer zone...


Allen



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/14 14:41 by bradleymckay.

bradleymckay Wrote:

>
> My complaint is this has an anti-oil feel to it
> and is somewhat hypocritical.


Bingo. I think MOST of the coverage/complaints about oil trains at large are coming from people who are against 'oil' in general. With the recent incidents, they have found something to strike fear in to people to join their cause.

In the case of Spokane in particular, look at their recent efforts against coal trains running through their city. This is solely an anti-oil/coal/energy play here.

-Tom

I had a buddy go to a BNSF hiring session for Spokane recently. During the first one hour session the BNSF HR person let the cat out of the bag that over 1800 people had applied for the 15 positions they were looking to hire that day for conductor trainee's. Spokane doesn't like its trains any longer, probably goes back to when the railroad left Hillyard and turned that community into a ghetto. Spokane is tight on any good decent paying jobs you can support a family on and maybe get ahead on. Spokane doesn't have much for any big company's anymore that provide a good middle class decent wage. Long ago they decided cutting down trees was bad because they don't grow back and as a consequence the government does not manage the forests in the area by clearing brush or thinning out forests to reduce forest fire danger. We can't get aggressive at going after the bark beetle problem because thats mostly hands off it seems too. Logging was the big thing around the area and its a shadow of its former self, Kaiser pretty up and left the area too. So not that the city council needs to bow down to the railroad or anything but they ought to be grateful that those oil trains are generating $100K a year jobs in a city where WA state minimum wage and government assistance food stamps are a good living! Considering how much hiring BNSF has done in the area and will to do as the dreaded oil and coal trains continue to get ever more prevalent in the PNW they need to be a little more grateful for the good paying jobs when the alternatives are far and few between.

Major article in TRAINS about oil. Check it out for some facts.

NWRailfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I had a buddy go to a BNSF hiring session for
> Spokane recently. During the first one hour
> session the BNSF HR person let the cat out of the
> bag that over 1800 people had applied for the 15
> positions they were looking to hire that day for
> conductor trainee's. Spokane doesn't like its
> trains any longer, probably goes back to when the
> railroad left Hillyard and turned that community
> into a ghetto. Spokane is tight on any good decent
> paying jobs you can support a family on and maybe
> get ahead on. Spokane doesn't have much for any
> big company's anymore that provide a good middle
> class decent wage. Long ago they decided cutting
> down trees was bad because they don't grow back
> and as a consequence the government does not
> manage the forests in the area by clearing brush
> or thinning out forests to reduce forest fire
> danger. We can't get aggressive at going after the
> bark beetle problem because thats mostly hands off
> it seems too. Logging was the big thing around the
> area and its a shadow of its former self, Kaiser
> pretty up and left the area too. So not that the
> city council needs to bow down to the railroad or
> anything but they ought to be grateful that those
> oil trains are generating $100K a year jobs in a
> city where WA state minimum wage and government
> assistance food stamps are a good living!
> Considering how much hiring BNSF has done in the
> area and will to do as the dreaded oil and coal
> trains continue to get ever more prevalent in the
> PNW they need to be a little more grateful for the
> good paying jobs when the alternatives are far and
> few between.

+1

That could make a good start for an ad from the railroad in the local newspaper. "We've been here for 125+ years, providing jobs for many generations of our neighbors. We continue to hire, and seek hard working folks who want to grow with us."

SomethingsInMyEye Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The last paragraph of the article states...
>
> "(Council president Ben) Stuckart also said one
> the reasons he has championed the resolution is
> because in 2013 alone, there had been more train
> oil spills the previous four decades combined."
>
> Is this true?
>
> Edit for clarification: It might be true he said
> this, my question is his "statistic" true of more
> oil train spills in 2013 than in the four decades
> from 1972 to 2012?
>

The amount of oil shipped by rail is way up compared to the past, so this is a flawed comparison IMO. I could state that there have been more heart attacks due to the Seahawks winning the Super Bowl in 2014 than in the previous four decades combined. It's all in how you try to phrase it so the data fits your need.

Those are pretty harsh charges against the fine folks in eastern Washington. I am not sure they like being painted with the same brush as the coastal Washingtonians. I am pretty sure the folks in Spokane Falls feel a lot of what you describe are due to outside forces beyond their control.

Posted from Windows Phone OS 7

This is a good part of the reason the Spokane Valley decided to incorporate as a separate city and not become part of more liberal Spokane. Spokane itself doesn't have much industry left, while Spokane Valley is very much a blue collar community that wouldn't go for this BS.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Consider the source: the Spokane City Council makes the US Congress look smart and civilized...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/14 11:50 by cpn456.