............................................................We have it in our power to begin the world over again -Thomas Paine......................................
Residents who have joined the fight against transporting oil
by train have also come to understand aspects of the wider context.
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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