Rail Safety is an Urgent Need

Our Opinion/ Every son, every daughter, every brother and every sister ought to be free from discrimination in ND

The North Dakota Industrial Commission and State Legislature owe countless millions of citizens here and across the nation responsible action to assure highly flammable and explosive Bakken crude oil traveling our highways and railways is safe.

The Mount Carbon, West Virginia, train derailment and explosions Monday are yet one more wake up call to the oil producers, regulators and transporters to uphold public safety as a guiding principle. Quite frankly, not acting accordingly and for the greater public good is negligence, plain and simple.

Visualize if you will an explosion such as that near Casselton less than 14 months ago happening in a residential neighborhood.

Well, that’s what took place in West Virginia. An oil tanker unit train with over 100 cars derailed Monday afternoon, sending mushroom flames and smoke 300-plus feet into the air. One home was destroyed and oil spilled onto the Kanawha River. No deaths were reported. However, one person was treated for inhalation of fumes. Residents were relocated to emergency shelters. First responders had limited access to the site. Drinking water was and is at risk as well.

News reports suggest that a dozen or so CSX tanker cars jumped the tracks just after 1 p.m., derailing and then leading to multiple explosions. At least one rail car burst into flames. Winter weather conditions exacerbated the situation.

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s office confirmed the train was transporting Bakken crude from western North Dakota to Yorktown, Va.

One of these days, the buck is going to land on desks of the North Dakota Industrial Commission, comprised of our governor, agriculture commissioner and attorney general. If they do not have the wherewithal to implement strict Bakken oil transport and handling guidelines for public safety, then the North Dakota Legislature needs to act and with a sense of urgency.

Solutions to the manifold challenges to heighten public safety are not singular. Rail car design is one element, and the cost is in the billions and will take years. Stabilization of oil transported via truck and rail is another solution, yet the removal of explosive gasses preemptively is costly and not desired by Big Oil. Conditioning of such oil is and has been our front line of defense, but that does not reduce the risk adequately at all, and perhaps gives a false sense of security. Slowing unit trains down to a crawl is not palatable, either, if you ask the railroad industry, yet may be necessary. Routing trains around metropolitan areas needs to be on the list of options as well.

Meantime, Bakken oil train derailments and subsequent explosions keep happening. The risks are immense. The costs are incalculable. Yet, the responsibility is ours.

The first Bakken crude rail catastrophe occurred July 6, 2013, in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, resulting in 47 deaths and the destruction or contamination of the entire downtown. Damages were in the millions. Then yet another train derailment and explosion unfurled itself in Aliceville, Alabama, four months later, fortunately not accompanied by death or injury of people.

But for the grace of God, the late December 2013 explosion near Casselton did not occur in Fargo city limits, or in any other metropolitan area, for that matter. Yet it should have served as an alarming wake-up call for North Dakota leaders and people, even though our governor called it an unfortunate coincidence.

Dozens of oil tanker unit trains roll through West Fargo, Fargo and Moorhead weekly. That’s thousands of oil tanker cars. Countless other cities and millions of people are farther down the tracks. Their safety, as well as our own, needs to be the highest priority as this Bakken shale oil play further unfolds.

We residents of Fargo and the metro area implicitly understand the need to prepare for a catastrophic 500-year flood event. We’d be curious what would be the statistical likelihood of catastrophic oil train derailments and explosions happening in our urban centers? We deserve an answer to that question. The implementation of a myriad of safety standards is urgent. Anything less is negligence.

Say “no” to institutionalized discrimination

The North Dakota State Senate narrowly passed Senate Bill 2279 Tuesday, which outlaws discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Now the bill goes to the House of Representatives.

Please contact your state legislators and let them know discrimination is not an acceptable standard here, and to remind them that all residents of the state deserve equal protection under the laws and that they are safe from institutionalized prejudice and bigotry.

Every son, every daughter, every brother and every sister ought to be free from discrimination based on sexual or gender identity bias.

Bartenders Battle recap

Congratulations to Andrea Anderson of Monte’s for her spectacular victory in Sunday night’s 2nd Annual Bartenders Battle. All eight contestants were worthy of the winners cup and the event was nothing less than incredible.

Thanks to the hundreds who attended, to the sponsors who helped make it top shelf (pun intended), to the bars and restaurants who showed up en masse to root for their favorite mixologist, to the folks at Avalon West who rolled out the red carpet, to the Blue Belle’s Burlesque women who added a glamorous touch of class to the event, to emcee Jesse James of Big 98.7, to the bidders who bought the drink entries as a donation to the Gladys Ray Shelter raising over $2,700 for that charity that saves lives day in and day out.

We could not be more proud of HPR’s team and everyone else who played a role in making the Bartenders Battle a success beyond measure.