Keep Explosive Oil Trains Out of New York
- by: Center for Biological Diversity
- recipient: The New York Department of
Environmental Conservation
Crude-by-rail transport trains carrying volatile Bakken crude oil have been increasingly converging on New York for the last couple years. These are the same trains that, when they derail, create exploding "oil bombs" that have already killed dozens and harmed wildlife.
The mile-long trains bearing dangerous, explosive crude are often called "pipelines on rails," and they threaten towns and cities like Plattsburgh, Buffalo and Albany. They will dirty our waterways -- including Lake Champlain and the Hudson River.
Also, more and more of those trains may be transporting tar sands from Canada as well as Bakken crude -- making an end run around stalled pipeline proposals and further endangering our global climate while harming human and natural communities along the rail routes.
Please take action now to urge the New York Department of Environmental Conservation to rescind its recently approved permit for crude oil transport and instead conduct a full review. It's not too late to put the brakes on this plan before the state of New York plays host to an oil bomb.
The mile-long trains bearing dangerous, explosive crude are often called "pipelines on rails," and they threaten towns and cities like Plattsburgh, Buffalo and Albany. They will dirty our waterways -- including Lake Champlain and the Hudson River.
Also, more and more of those trains may be transporting tar sands from Canada as well as Bakken crude -- making an end run around stalled pipeline proposals and further endangering our global climate while harming human and natural communities along the rail routes.
Please take action now to urge the New York Department of Environmental Conservation to rescind its recently approved permit for crude oil transport and instead conduct a full review. It's not too late to put the brakes on this plan before the state of New York plays host to an oil bomb.
Please accept these comments in reference to Global Companies LLC's application for an Article 19 Air Title V Facility permit (ID 4-0101-00112/00029).
The Title V air permit should be rescinded, and instead, a full environmental impact study of Global Partner's rail terminal expansion should be conducted under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).
[Your comment will be added here]
The "negative declaration" granted to this project in November 2013 was not warranted based on the incomplete information available at that time. There must be a full account of the project's environmental impacts -- including the potential danger associated with the flammability of certain crude oils, as outlined by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration in its Jan. 2, 2014 safety alert. That alert was in response to a series of explosive train derailments in the last six months, including the deadly Lac-Mégantic disaster.
This permit would open New York rail routes and the Hudson River to transportation of a new type of heavy, viscous crude oil. This oil is almost certainly to be sourced in western Canada and is commonly referred to as "tar sands." In the event of a derailment or other type of spill, tar sands will be extremely difficult and expensive to clean up. It will cause severe and ongoing damage to the environment -- as has been seen in previous tar sands spills. The pipeline rupture in Michigan in July 2010 that polluted the Kalamazoo River for 30 miles, and the spill that occurred in Arkansas in March 2013 drove out many local residents -- some of them permanently.
Increased crude oil transport by rail and ship in New York also increases the potential for harm to aquatic species such as federally listed shortnose and Atlantic sturgeons living in the Hudson River and numerous other state-listed plants and animals. Economically valuable fisheries are also in harm's way.
All of the forgoing risks, as well as the possible harms to low-income and other disadvantaged communities, must be taken into account in a comprehensive environmental impact statement under SEQRA.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Sign PetitionSign PetitionThe Title V air permit should be rescinded, and instead, a full environmental impact study of Global Partner's rail terminal expansion should be conducted under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).
[Your comment will be added here]
The "negative declaration" granted to this project in November 2013 was not warranted based on the incomplete information available at that time. There must be a full account of the project's environmental impacts -- including the potential danger associated with the flammability of certain crude oils, as outlined by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration in its Jan. 2, 2014 safety alert. That alert was in response to a series of explosive train derailments in the last six months, including the deadly Lac-Mégantic disaster.
This permit would open New York rail routes and the Hudson River to transportation of a new type of heavy, viscous crude oil. This oil is almost certainly to be sourced in western Canada and is commonly referred to as "tar sands." In the event of a derailment or other type of spill, tar sands will be extremely difficult and expensive to clean up. It will cause severe and ongoing damage to the environment -- as has been seen in previous tar sands spills. The pipeline rupture in Michigan in July 2010 that polluted the Kalamazoo River for 30 miles, and the spill that occurred in Arkansas in March 2013 drove out many local residents -- some of them permanently.
Increased crude oil transport by rail and ship in New York also increases the potential for harm to aquatic species such as federally listed shortnose and Atlantic sturgeons living in the Hudson River and numerous other state-listed plants and animals. Economically valuable fisheries are also in harm's way.
All of the forgoing risks, as well as the possible harms to low-income and other disadvantaged communities, must be taken into account in a comprehensive environmental impact statement under SEQRA.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
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