Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Northern California's Railroads Are Carrying More Crude Oil Than Ever—But These Neighbors Aren't Having It

From:  Yes! Magazine


This article originally appeared at Faces of Fracking.

Residents who have joined the fight against transporting oil by train have also come to understand aspects of the wider context.
Ed Ruszel portrait by Sarah Craig
Ed Ruszel’s workday is a soundtrack of whirling, banging, screeching—the percussion of wood being cut, sanded, and finished. He’s the facility manager for the family business, Ruszel Woodworks. But one sound each day roars above the cacophony of the wood shop: the blast of the train horn as cars cough down the Union Pacific rail line that runs just a few feet from the front of his shop in an industrial park in Benicia, California.
By 2016 the amount of crude by rail is expected to increase by a factor of 25.
Most days the train cargo is beer, cars, steel, propane, or petroleum coke. But soon two trains of 50 cars each may pass by every day carrying crude oil to a refinery owned by neighboring Valero Energy. Valero is hoping to build a new rail terminal at the refinery that would bring 70,000 barrels a day by train—or nearly 3 million gallons.

And it’s a sign of the times.

Crude by rail has increased 4,000 percent across the country since 2008, and California is feeling the effects. By 2016 the amount of crude by rail entering the state is expected to increase by a factor of 25. That’s assuming industry gets its way in creating more crude-by-rail stations at refineries and oil terminals. And that’s no longer looking like a sure thing.  MORE

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