Friday, March 6, 2015

Illinois oil train derailment involved safer tank cars - Yahoo News

 

GALENA, Ill. (AP) — The rail cars that split open and burst into flames during a western Illinois oil train derailment this week had been retrofitted with protective shields to meet a higher safety standard than federal law requires, railroad officials said.

The fire continued to burn Friday, a day after 21 of the train's 105 cars derailed in a rural area south of the city of Galena. No injuries were reported, but the accident was the latest in a series of failures for the safer tank-car model that has led some people calling for even tougher requirements.

"It certainly begs that question, when ... those standards failed to prevent leakage and explosions that threaten human safety and environmental contamination," said Steve Barg, director of the Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation, which owns a nature preserve several hundred yards from the derailment site.

BNSF Railway said in a news release that the train's tank cars were a newer model known as the 1232, which was designed during safety upgrades voluntarily adopted by the industry four years ago in hopes of keeping cars from rupturing during derailments. But 1232 standard cars involved in three other accidents have split open in the past year.

Those other accidents included one last month in West Virginia in which a train carrying 3 million gallons of North Dakota crude derailed, shooting fireballs into the sky, leaking oil into a waterway and burning down a house. The home's owner was treated for smoke inhalation, but no one else was injured.

In Thursday's accident in Illinois, 21 cars derailed in an area where the Galena River meets the Mississippi. The company said a resulting fire spread to five rail cars, and emergency personnel were still working to contain the blaze Friday.

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Smoke and flames erupt from the scene of a train derailment …

Smoke and flames erupt from the scene of a train derailment Thursday, March 5, 2015, near Galena, Il …

Firefighters could only access the derailment site by a bike path, said Galena Assistant Fire Chief Bob Conley. They had to pull back initially for safety reasons, but by midday Friday officials described the area as "stable."

The Federal Railroad Administration said its investigators expected to have access to the site around noon.

The train had 103 cars loaded with crude oil from the Northern Plains' Bakken region, along with two buffer cars loaded with sand, according to company spokesman Andy Williams. The cause of the derailment hasn't been determined.

The accident occurred 3 miles south of Galena in a wooded and hilly area that is a major tourist attraction and the home of former President Ulysses S. Grant. It's part of the Driftless Area, a multi-state region prized in the largely flat Midwest for its high bluffs, karst limestone and steep ravines that escaped the last continental glacier.

It is also just alongside part of the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish Refuge. So far, there's no indication of any oil contamination there, said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Georgia Parhan.

View gallery

Smoke and flames erupt from the scene of a train derailment …

Smoke and flames erupt from the scene of a train derailment Thursday, March 5, 2015, near Galena, Il …

As of June of last year, BNSF was hauling 32 Bakken oil trains per week through the surrounding Jo Daviess County, according to information disclosed to Illinois emergency officials.

Recent derailments have increased public concern about the safety of shipping crude by train. According to the Association of American Railroads, oil shipments by rail jumped from 9,500 carloads in 2008 to 500,000 in 2014, driven by a boom in the Bakken oil patch of North Dakota and Montana, where pipeline limitations force 70 percent of the crude to move by rail.

Since 2006, the U.S. and Canada have now seen at least 22 oil-train accidents involving a fire, derailment or significant amount of fuel spilled, according to an Associated Press examination of federal accident records.

The wrecks have intensified pressure on the administration of President Barack Obama to approve tougher standards for railroads and tank cars, despite industry complaints that it could cost billions and slow freight deliveries.

Oil industry officials had been opposed to further upgrading the 1232 cars because of costs. But late last year they changed their position and joined with the railway industry to support some upgrades, although they asked for time to make the improvements

Illinois oil train derailment involved safer tank cars - Yahoo News

2015 Capital Program Bringing Improvements Systemwide

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The Illinois Tollway is preparing for the 2015 construction season with plans to invest $1.63 billion in improvements throughout the 286-mile system.

This will be the fourth year of the 15-year, $12 billion Move Illinois: the Illinois Tollway Driving the Future Program, delivering the largest year of capital spending in the agency's history with projects to rebuild 310 lane miles, repair 122 bridges and build or improve 20 interchanges.

Highlights of the 2015 capital program include:

  • Investing $839.6 million for the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) Rebuilding and Widening Project to start construction of the new, wider roadway from Elgin to the Tri-State Tollway (I-294). Learn more.
  • Investing $319.8 million to continue the $3.4 billion Elgin O'Hare Western Access Project, including completion of the new Illinois Route 390 from Lake Street (U.S. Route 20) to Rohlwing Road, and the start of work to extend the new roadway east to Illinois Route 83. Learn more.
  • Investing $241.1 million for systemwide interchange and bridge repairs, including completing work to rebuild the Grand Avenue Interchange (Illinois Route 132) Project on the Tri-State Tollway (I-94) in Gurnee. Learn more.
  • Investing $108 million in the Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88), including roadway resurfacing and local bridge improvements from Illinois Route 251 to U.S. Route 52. Learn more.

Boone County wants in on Rockford casino action - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

BELVIDERE — If Rockford were to get state approval for a casino, the Boone County Board says the city should share tax revenue with neighboring communities.

House Bill 3564, introduced to the Illinois General Assembly on Feb. 26 by Rep. Bob Rita, D-Blue Island, would allow Winnebago County one license for a riverboat casino. But the bill could also be a starting point for lawmakers to work toward a bill that allows a brick-and-mortar casino.

"Drinking and gambling ... I don’t like that as a revenue source, but if we’re going to do it, and if a lot of people in our community patronize that kind of thing, then I think it’s fair that we share in the local contributions to the revenue stream," said Boone County Board Chairman Bob Walberg.

On Feb. 18, Walberg wrote a letter to Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, on behalf of the Boone County Board asking that he consider a population-based revenue sharing plan if a casino were approved.

The plan would give 43 percent of gaming tax revenue to Rockford, 29 percent to Winnebago County, and 7 percent each to Machesney Park, Loves Park, Belvidere and Boone County.

“The Rockford region has been especially hurt by the ‘Great Recession,’ and our unemployment still ranks amongst the highest in the state,” Walberg wrote. “Like it or not, revenue from gaming will help local governments with their infrastructure challenges. … I believe that for our area to become truly 'regional,' revenues obtained through these new sources should be shared.”

Rockford City Administrator Jim Ryan said the city is open to discussing a revenue sharing plan  But because Rockford shoulders costs for regionally beneficial things like public housing subsidies, the museum campus, the Coronado Performing Arts Center, the BMO Harris Bank Center and the Chicago Rockford International Airport, it should get the majority of tax revenue generated by a casino.

"I certainly respect his desire to have a share of casino revenues for Boone County," Ryan said. "(But) the lion's share of revenue for this casino should go to the central city, the area that bears the majority of socioeconomic costs for the region. ... We provide the lion’s share of subsidies, ... so if we're going to have a regional discussion on revenue sharing, we're also going to have a discussion on cost sharing."

Sen. Steve Stadelman, D-Rockford; Rep. Bob Pritchard, R-Sycamore; Rep. Joe Sosnowski, R-Rockford; and Rep. Litesa Wallace, D-Rockford, also received copies of Walberg's letter, as did Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey, Belvidere Mayor Mike Chamberlain, Machesney Park Mayor Jerry Bolin, Loves Park Mayor Darryl Lindberg and Winnebago County Board Chairman Scott Christiansen.

"We’ve been able to get together in the past and reason and get to a fair analysis," Christiansen said. "A population-based plan might make sense. Not sure if the numbers (in Walberg’s plan) are exactly right, but I think it’s something that we should discuss." - See more at: http://www.rrstar.com/article/20150306/NEWS/150309627/11669/NEWS#sthash.cmGziYRd.dpuf