Safety

Another Serious Reason To Oppose Gas Pipelines

September 7, 2015 Francis Eatherington, www.registerguard.com Educate! Environment, Oil & Gas, Pipeline, Safety

By Francis Eatherington in Register Guard - With wildfires raging across Oregon, it has become even more urgent for Gov. Kate Brown and U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley to oppose the liquefied natural gas export terminal and pipeline proposed for our state by a Canadian energy company. The Stouts Creek fire, one of the largest current blazes, is affecting at least 17 miles of the route that the Pacific Connector pipeline would take to bring natural gas from Canada and the Rockies to Coos Bay for liquefication and export to Asia. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, an agency that must approve the proposed project and that is closely tied to the oil and gas industry, failed in its draft environmental impact statement to adequately consider the added risks of piping a highly explosive substance through our increasingly fire-prone state.

Pennsylvanians Rally To Stop Fracking Near Schools

August 31, 2015 Diane Sipe, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Fracking, health, Safety, Schools

By Diane Sipe for Marcellus Outreach Butler - More than 100 parents, concerned citizens, and advocates marched through downtown Butler to Diamond Park on Saturday to send a strong message that gas wells and infrastructure have no place near schools. Saturday’s rally was held as a follow-up to the July 14 protest rally held at the Mars Area School District (MASD) campus held in support of the Mars Parent Group’s fight to keep a Rex Energy wells from being placed about one-half mile from the campus’ five schools and 3200 student population. The Saturday protest emphasized that the egregious practice of putting unconventional gas wells and related activity such as gas processing plants, compressor stations, and pipelines near schools is pernicious by demonstrating the extent of the problem in Butler County. In Butler, it is known that at least five schools have been put at risk and the potential exists for many more of the county’s schools to be so in the future if the gas industry is permitted to continue gas development as it currently plans to do.

New App Offers ‘Panic Button’ For Activists In Danger

May 18, 2015 Elise Thomas, www.wagingnonviolence.org Resist! Human Rights, Safety, Technology

In countries all over the world, activists and journalists risk their safety, their freedom and even their lives to speak up for human rights and civil liberties. They may face harassment, intimidation, arrest or physical violence. Others have simply been “disappeared,” sometimes with no witnesses and no paper trail. When there are no eye witnesses or records of the abuse, it is often very difficult to hold perpetrators to account for their actions. What if you could keep a witness in your pocket? This is the concept behind Witness, winner of the grand prize at this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt NY Hackathon, which took place earlier this month. The Hackathon is an annual event in which hundreds of coders and developers have a weekend to build apps from scratch. Other winners ranged from a social media app for transgender people to an app which senses whether you’ve left the stove on.

Exploding Trains And Crude Oil

March 10, 2015 John Flanders, www.counterpunch.org Educate! Environment, Oil & Gas, Oil Trains, Safety

On the eve of the first conference bringing together rail workers and environmentalists in Richmond, California, we’ve had one oil train after another go off the tracks and explode. The latest was in Ontario, Canada. According to a news report, “Ontario Provincial Police said the derailment happened near Gogama, Ont., around 2:45 a.m. Saturday morning, with some of the cars catching fire and others falling into the Mattagami River.” Environmentalists around the country have been protesting the “bomb trains” for several years now, but the 100 car unit trains are continuing to roll through hill and dale, towns and cities. Over a hundred years of the rail carriers influence in the halls of government make sure of this, up to now.

Rally Against Oil Trains’ Threat To Water

March 9, 2015 John Seasly, www.northjersey.com Resist! Energy, Environment, Oil & Gas, Oil Trains, Safety

In the wake of a spate of derailments nationwide, more than 100 protesters rallied near the Oradell Reservoir on Saturday, speaking out against the oil trains that pass across that mainstay of the region’s water supply. Every week, an estimated 15 to 30 trains carry as much as 3.6 million gallons of volatile crude oil from the Bakken region of North Dakota through eastern Bergen County. The line, which is owned by the transportation company CSX, passes through 11 Bergen County municipalities and across a neck of the reservoir, which is the water supply for 750,000 people in Bergen and Hudson counties. Coincidentally, a train carrying crude oil derailed in northern Ontario early Saturday, causing numerous tank cars to catch fire and spill into a river system, authorities in the Canadian province said.

Refinery Strike Is Not Just About Safety – It’s About Pollution

March 7, 2015 Mike Ludwig, www.truth-out.org Educate! Environment, Labor Unions, Oil & Gas, Safety

"Our focus is on health and safety; it's not wages at all," said USW spokeswoman Lynne Hancock. Thousands of accidents are reported at refineries across the country every year, but typically only make headlines when workers die or when plumes of pollution spew across neighboring communities. Such disasters have been occurring on a yearly basis. The USW, which bargains on behalf of 30,000 workers at 65 refineries and hundreds of petrochemical facilities, blames working conditions and employment policies at refineries for the industry's alarming safety record. The union wants to put an end to unsafe staffing levels, long shifts that lead to fatigue, and the industry's habit of replacing union workers with inexperienced contractors, among other injurious practices. When the industry balked at initial proposals in mid-February, the USW accused employers of being more interested in profits than safety.

4,000 Barrels Of Oil Spill From Louisiana Pipeline

October 20, 2014 Craig Sims, www.ktbs.com Educate! Energy, Environment, EPA, Oil Spill, Safety, usa

MOORINGSPORT, La. (KTBS) - Raw oil is coating around a four mile section of Tete Bayou in Caddo Parish after a major spill Monday, around 8 AM. It happened just southwest of Mooringsport. Three families have been displaced because of the environmental disaster. The burst oil pipe belongs to Sunoco Logistics, which says the exact cause of the spill is still under investigation. Sunoco faces a long cleanup. The company estimates for now that around 4,000 thousand barrels worth of oil poured from the pipe, which carries oil from Texas to Ohio. At a press conference Saturday, it was announced around 1,900 barrels have already been cleaned up so far. Louisiana State Police say the three families were not forced out but asked to leave because of the oil's fumes.

Cove Point Fracked Gas Export Threatens Safety Of Residents

June 20, 2014 Karen Gibbs, www.ecowatch.com Resist! Fracking, pollution, Safety, Virginia

As a resident of the town of Lusby, MD, where a Virginia-based energy giant Dominion Resources wants to build a massive $3.8 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility, I’ve sought out and received a significant education on the safety risks inherent in this industry over the past year. In the process, I’ve returned again and again to this question: Is my safety—and that of the thousands of families living within several miles of this project—a significant concern to federal regulators? These are facts, not mere speculation: on Sept. 13, 2013, a gas processing facility partly owned by Dominion Resources exploded in Natrium, WV. On March 31, an LNG plant exploded in Plymouth, WA, injuring five workers and rupturing an LNG storage tank, resulting in the formation of a flammable vapor gas cloud. On April 23, another major gas processing facility exploded in Opal, WY, forcing the evacuation of the entire town of about 95 residents. These facts are highly significant because the potential consequences of a similar explosion at Dominion’s proposed Cove Point LNG export facility in Lusby could be far more severe.

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