A plane crash kills 2. Massive coverage. A train derailment incinerates dozens, very little [View all]

[cali]

news coverage by the U.S media. OK, Lac Megantic isn't SF, but it's not in the back of beyond. It's right over the border. Hey, reporters, you can catch a flight to Montreal and rent a car there. This disaster will go down as one of the worst rail disasters in North America in decades and decades.

And I have to say, I don't get the disinterest here on DU either given the real possibility that this could happen in the Northeast U.S. all too easily, and given the implications for the transport of oil and for regulation of rail transport.

And here's why it could happen all too easily in the Northeast: 1) terrible infrastructure. 2) The huge increase in the amount of oil now transported by rail (something like 28,000 times more since 2009) 3.) Tanker cars that are not safe 4) These trains run through dozens of towns and cities.