Tesoro and others want to operate oil terminals in Vancouver, Washington. My concerns:
— Explosions, derailments, human error and the variety of reasons causing multiple oil-by-rail catastrophes in 2013.
— Oil cars, to be replaced with safer designs, but operational until then — and the news that the safer ones are also failing.
— Emissions from oil transfer and from oil cars “burping.”
— Fracked oil’s increased combustibility and fracking’s damage to the earth.
— Rail tracks degrading naturally, but especially from daily coal dust contamination.
— Oil shipped through the Gorge possibly spilling into the river. It could shut down river traffic, fishing, tourism, and port jobs for years.
— Tesoro’s track record. They banned Chemical Safety Board inspectors from their facility in California.
— Lack of evacuation and emergency plans, agencies, facilities, budgets.
— Difficulty of reliable, cooperative, comprehensive, and protective regulation.
— Lack of a comprehensive energy policy that sustains us and future generations.
Risk vs gain: the imbalance is clear. Submit comments to DOE to study cumulative impacts of all proposed terminals on all rail communities until May 27 to www.ecy.wa.gov/geographic/graysharbor/terminals.html
Jan Verrinder
Vancouver, Wash.
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