Heavy rains may have been factor in oil train derailment

Last week, I received an alert for potential landslides in Western Washington in my inbox. On Dec. 21, a landslide did occur forcing the cancellation of the Sounder rail service between Edmonds and Mukilteo. Tuesday also was also the same day of the most recent BNSF Railway derailment, fire and spill involving seven tankers of the highly volatile and toxic Bakken crude oil just north of Bellingham.

This accident could have been much, much worse. With a landslide alert in place, all rail traffic of hazardous materials should have been halted or at least restricted to less than 5 mph. The ground underneath the tracks was supersaturated beyond the engineering estimates for safe use of the rails. BNSF needs to pay for the immediate and swift cleanup of this spill and should also pay serious fines for letting it happen. Gov. Jay Inslee and the state of Washington need to make sure such derailments never happen again, otherwise we will likely see similar, and perhaps much worse, catastrophes that are just as predictable in the future.

Scott Chaplin

Freeland