Ranker Wants Full Disclosure on Bakken Crude Shipments

(Editor’s Note: Upon receiving this press release from Senator Rankin’s office, we contacted them for additional information, i.e., does Bakken crude ship through the San Juans, or only by rail? In reply, we received the following statement from Aaron Wasser, Communications Director, quoting a Senate Environmental Committee Policy staffer:)

All the “Bakken” crude comes from the same formation in North Dakota and parts of Montana and southern Alberta. Some crude from Bakken could come in by rail or pipeline then transferred to barge or tanker. For example, the Bakken crude being transferred at the Tesoro-Savage facility in Vancouver is headed by barge to refineries throughout the West Coast, including both WA and CA. While I have not checked, I would not be surprised if some Bakken crude is being shipped by vessel from the two ports in the Vancouver, BC area, and nearly all that traffic comes right through Haro Strait in the San Juans.

OLYMPIA – Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island, and Sen. Christine Rolfes, D-Kitsap County, sent a letter to the heads of two major American railroad companies as well as U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx requesting comprehensive reports of ALL shipments of volatile Bakken crude oil anticipated to be transported through Washington state be made available to first responders and impacted communities.

The letter follows a recent decision by US transportation officials that requires rail companies to disclose shipments of a million gallons or more of Bakken crude.

“That’s a start, but it doesn’t go far enough,” Ranker said. “Disaster after disaster has shown us that safeguards must be put in place so that if the worst-case scenario does come to pass, our first responders are ready to act.”

The letter urges the USDOT to lower the threshold from a million gallons, stating that, “shipments on a train of any less than about 35 rail tank cars need not be included, yet several recent derailments and spills and/or explosions of crude oil involved fewer tank cars while causing considerable damage.

“An incident involving release and ignition of Bakken crude from even one rail car could potentially cause the loss of life and severe damage in some of our densely populated communities…”

In fact more oil has been spilled from trains in 2013 than in the previous 37 years combined.

“These trains run through the heart of our communities,” Rolfes said. “Public safety is one of the top priorities of state government and recent derailments and disasters throughout the U.S. are a constant reminder that oil trains are a very real threat to the public good.”

Click here to read the letter in its entirety.