Should CEOs Get Jail Time For Oil-By-Rail Accidents Like Lac Megantic?
On May 12th, a heavily armed SWAT unit stormed the home of Thomas Harding and threw Harding, his son and a visitor to the ground. Harding was then handcuffed, arrested…
Justin Mikulka
Should CEOs Get Jail Time For Oil-By-Rail Accidents Like Lac Megantic?
On May 12th, a heavily armed SWAT unit stormed the home of Thomas Harding and threw Harding, his son and a visitor to the ground. Harding was then handcuffed, arrested…
Playing With Fire: U.S. Regulators Resort to Weak Voluntary Measures For Oil-By-Rail Safety
Last year, Jeffrey Wiese, an official with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) told an industry conference that the regulatory process was “kind of dying.” According to InsideClimate…
How This U.S. Rail Safety Measure Has Been Delayed for 44 Years … And Counting
On August 20, 1969, two Penn Central commuter trains collided head-on near Darien, Conn. Four people were killed and 43 were injured. The crash led the National Transportation Safety Board…
How This U.S. Rail Safety Measure Has Been Delayed for 44 Years … And Counting
On August 20, 1969, two Penn Central commuter trains collided head-on near Darien, Conn. Four people were killed and 43 were injured. The crash led the National Transportation Safety Board…
No Community is Prepared for Major Oil-By-Rail Accident, Senate Hearing Told
Just as you aren’t supposed to try to put out an oil fire in your kitchen with water, you aren’t supposed to try to put out a crude oil fire…
Wine and Milk vs. Oil and Gas: Existing Industries Go Up Against Fossil Fuel Job Promises
Ken Stanton’s 400-cow dairy farm lies in the path of the proposed Constitution Pipeline, which would carry fracked natural gas from Pennsylvania to New York. Three generations of Stanton’s family…
Oil-By-Rail Scrutiny Ratchets Up Across United States
Two years ago, trains snaked through American towns and cities day and night often without residents, or even city officials, knowing they were carrying explosive crude oil from the Bakken…
Feds Weaken New Oil-By-Rail Safety Regulations Days After Announcing Them
Nine days after announcing new regulations designed to improve oil-by-rail safety, the Department of Transportation quietly weakened the rules for testing rail cars and exempted shippers of bitumen from having…
Oil Shipments Turn Albany Into “Houston on the Hudson” As Communities Across Country Fight Oil-By-Rail Proposals
Due to a massive increase in the movement of crude oil by rail in the past few years, communities across the country are facing the daunting prospect of becoming part…
Why Nothing Will Happen On Oil by Rail Safety
In the past month, there have been numerous public relations efforts suggesting that much is being done to improve oil by rail safety. Unfortunately, it seems these efforts will not…
Energy Industry Leaders and Government Officials Rub Elbows at CERAWeek 2014
This week was the 33rd Annual CERAweek conference, described as “the energy industry’s preeminent gathering of industry leaders and government officials, offering new ideas, insight, and discussions on major strategic…
Bureaucrat Ducks Vital Question on Flawed DOT-111 Tank Cars at Oil By Rail Safety Hearing
On Wednesday February 26th, the long-awaited congressional hearing on oil-by-rail safety finally occurred. The main portion of the hearing featured representatives from the relevant government agencies as well as industry,…
Past Time to Close Loophole That Exempts Oil by Rail Companies from Spill Response Planning
In 2013, with the rapid expansion in the use of rail to transport crude oil, we learned that there was a huge increase in the the amount of oil spilled…
Why Nothing Is Being Done to Improve Oil by Rail Safety
Since the oil train explosion in Lac-Megantic in July of 2013, we have learned that there are some obvious safety issues that need to be addressed regarding transportation of crude…
New York Governor Cuomo Issues Executive Order on Oil by Rail Safety
Yesterday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order directing several state agencies to review the risks posed by trasportation of crude oil by rail in New York. This…