East End residents fear crashes of oil trains rolling through their neighborhood.
Residents fear deadly crashes of crude-carriers, urge scrutiny
On a sultry Saturday, when others were thinking about baseball, gay pride parades or weekend chores, about 30 East End neighbors focused on a national debate — the safety of trains used to transport highly flammable crude oil
It’s an issue that has landed like a bomb in their backyards.
“I live 200 yards from a railroad track,” said Lynn Rodriguez. “And I have a big issue with the oil trains. They’re a hazard, and I don’t think the companies follow the rules.” Rivers of red
Juan Parras and Nancy Nusser, the environmental activists who arranged the meeting, set up a map showing rivers of red. Those rivers represent Bakken oil trains, carrying highly volatile crude oil from the Bakken formation of North Dakota, running through downtown, past the Harris County courthouse complex, close to the University of Houston-Downtown and weaving around the East End.
“There’s more Bakken oil in the East End than anywhere else in Houston,” said Nusser, with Public Citizen in Austin. “The red lines show the businesses and homes within half a mile of either side of the track. That’s the danger zone, where derailments could cause huge fires.”
While millions of gallons of the particularly dangerous crude oil travel through 30 Texas counties in an average week, the largest volumes, between 2 million and 6 million gallons a week, travel through Harris County, Houston Chronicle investigations have shown.
“Houston is an oil-train catastrophe waiting to happen,” said Parras, director of Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services.
“Ultimately, we need to stop the shipment of highly flammable oil by rail. It’s just too dangerous. Until that happens, we need to at least route these bomb trains around densely populated areas — not through them.” Regulations needed
As oil train traffic has surged, from 9,500 rail cars in 2008 to 420,000 rail cars in 2013, Nusser said, derailments have increased, too. The worst was in July 2013, when a runaway train carrying 72 tank cars of Bakken crude killed 47 people in Mégantic, Quebec.
“We need designated routes so that these trains are a safe distance away from homes and business- es,” Nusser said. “We also need tighter safety regulations, thicker tank cars and more information about these trains made available to the public.” Industry wants safety
Yet another option, Nusser said, is to remove the most flammable chemical in the volatile crude oil before it is loaded into railroad cars.
Ed Greenberg, a spokesman for the American Association of Railroads, said the freight rail industry shares the safety concerns that have been expressed all around the country. In response, he said, railroads have done top-to-bottom operational reviews and voluntarily implemented lower speeds, increased track inspections and stepped up outreach and training for first responders in local communities.
“We take great pride in the history that freight railroads have had in building our country and the role we play in moving the U.S. economy,” Greenberg said. “Safety is embedded into every aspect of our industry and there is no greater priority.”
While the Houston area has been spared catastrophic train accidents bearing the North Dakota oil, a point emphasized by state Sen. Sylvia Garcia, at the meeting she acknowl- edged the potential danger of explosions and a general tendency to overlook the safety and aesthetic concerns of East End citizens.
She also said her sleep is frequently interrupted by a train that passes close to her home at 4 a.m., and that she is sometimes late to meetings while she waits for trains that block East End streets.
Sometimes those trains park in one spot for hours, Parras said. “They are potential terrorist targets.”
While both oil companies and railroads came under attack at the meeting, Brenda Mainwaring, vice president of public affairs for Union Pacific, said her company has been asking for tank car improvements for some time. She added that Union Pacific carries the cars but does not own them.
“If someone presents to us a car that meets government standards, we are required to carry it,” Mainwaring said. More transparency
To make sure hazardous materials are hauled safely, Mainwaring said, Union Pacific has reduced speed limits to lessen the chance of a mishap.
The company also works with local emergency management officials so they can track the cargos passing through their regions.
The communication between the railroads and local officials has come under fire, however, because much of that shared information is kept secret from the public.
All parties need to be transparent, Parras said. People who live near the tracks have a right to know what dangerous substances are passing by their bedrooms.
The point is to keep the information from terrorists, Mainwaring said.
As Paulette Kukuk left the meeting at the Immaculate Conception Church on Harrisburg, she said she was inspired to keep fighting for safer oil train practices.
“It’s not a perfect world,” she said, “but I can work toward it.”