Protesters stall an oil train for hours at Anacortes (Washington state)
A train attempting to leave a Tesoro oil train facility in Anacortes yesterday was stopped in its tracks when three residents of the coastal town and Seattle locked their bodies to barrels full of concrete, sat on the tracks and refused to move. During the four-hour standoff an estimated 100 BNSF rail cars were held at bay.
Authorities would not say whether the tank cars, normally used to carry Bakken field crude oil from North Dakota, had any oil at the time.
Three protesters were cited for trespass. Two of the protesters identified themselves as members of Rising Tide Seattle. Their demands included a halt to Bakken crude shipments through the Northwest, an immediate rejection of all crude-by-rail facilities in the Northwest, and assurances that Tesoro refineries in Anacortes, Bellingham and Tacoma will operate in compliance with the Clean Air Act. The EPA at one time charged Tesoro with violating the Clean Air Act no fewer than 4,000 times at a single refinery in North Dakota. Last year, the company and the EPA reached a $1.1 million settlement agreement over claims of widespread violations at other refineries, including Anacortes. A research group at the University of Massachusetts Amherst lists the company is among the top 100 toxic polluters nationwide.
The shipment of Bakken crude via rail has become increasingly controversial after seven derailments since July of last year. Five of the incidents involved dangerous fires. The last straw for Adam Gaya with Rising Tide Seattle was last week's oil train derailment in Seattle. No oil was released. But, says Gaya, “That train was less than two miles from my house. We have an out-of-control fossil fuel industry that is going off the tracks taking our planet to catastrophic climate change.”
http://crosscut.com/2014/07/28/environment/121224/protesters-stall-oil-train-hours-anacortes/
