Activist warns about dangers of crude oil trains in Western Washington

SEATTLE -- The train crash in North Dakota has local activists sounding the alarm about oil trains that also run through our cities.

Activist Patrick Mazza said it’s only a matter of time before Western Washington sees its own Bakken oil train car explosion.

“Crude by rail is inherently dangerous,” he said.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is pushing new legislation to replace older tank cars, called DOT 111s, with newer models that have increased safety features.

Wednesday’s accident in North Dakota involved those older tankers, which can easily rupture and explode when a train derails.

Gov. Jay Inslee is also expected to sign a bill that requires railroad companies to provide first-responders with advanced warning about when these potentially explosive oil trains will pass through.

Mazza has joined several protests demanding that even more be done. He calls the three daily oil trains that run through Seattle a ticking time bomb.

“We’ve had five explosions in the last couple of months,” he said. “How many explosions are we going to have and what is the odds game here?”

Nearly 50 people were killed when a Bakkan oil train exploded in Quebec in July 2013. A crude oil train derailed underneath the Magnolia Bridge in Seattle a year later, but no oil was spilled.

BNSF said it has upgraded rail lines, trained nearly 2,000 first-responders statewide and has teams at the ready in case of emergency.

Despite the preparation, activists still worry about a derailment in a high-population area like the King Street tunnel.

“If we had a train wreck like we just had this morning in North Dakota, we’d have way more than 27 people to evacuate,” said Mazza. “At very least we would have toxic smoke pouring out of both ends of the tunnel.”

BNSF said statistics show rail is a safe form of transportation. The company said in 2013, more than 99% of its hazardous material shipments were delivered safely.