Category Archives: Uncategorized

Has someone stolen or vandalized your yard sign?

Repost from Stop Crude By Rail on Facebook

ORDER A REPLACEMENT HERE

Stop Crude By Rail yardsignStop Crude by Rail yard signs and posters are being stolen off of personal property and vandalized at a pretty high rate in Benicia. Pretty bad behavior. Police reports have been made and we will replace any signs that have been taken. We have also reported this to the Benicia City Council – here is the video of that report.

If you would like a replacement of your sign or a new yard sign, please email Benicians For a Safe and Healthy Community at info@SafeBenicia.org.

Andres Soto speaking at Benicia City Council, 2014-08-26

Vandalized large wooden sign, West Military and Southampton, Benicia CA

Bomb Train Derailments in 2014

This is from Facebook/BombTrains(Editor:  On a sad note, Curtis Hewston, who maintained the Facebook BombTrains page, passed away in September 2014, so this log has not been updated since August 2.  Curtis’ detailed logging of hazmat derailments was without an equal. Would that someone could pick up and carry on where Curtis left off…)

2014 — The Year In Bomb Train Derailments

This a running list of bomb train derailments in North America in 2014.

By “bomb train,” I mean those trains hauling one or more cars of crude oil, fuel oil, ethanol, methanol, propane, butane, liquified natural gas (methane), vinyl chloride, ammonium nitrate or high-nitrogen fertilizer such as anhydrous ammonia, phosphoric acid or some other highly volatile or especially toxic or caustic cargo.

I’m also counting derailments if the engine or engines derail and cause a diesel fuel spill. (The list does not include coal train derailments, which, of course, are a whole ‘nuther problem.) I’ve also indicated whether a detonation resulted.

So far in North America in 2014, we have seen an average of one bomb train derailment every 4 days ….

  • 01/07 – Plaster Rock, NB (6 days from Jan. 1), detonation
  • 01/20 – Philadelphia, PA (13 days later)
  • 01/26 – Edmundston, NB (6 days later)
  • 01/28 – Molino, FL (2 days later)
  • 01/31 – New Augusta, MS (3 days later)
  • 02/06 – Sedalia, CO (6 days later)
  • 02/11 – South Shore, KY and Jacksonville, FL (5 days later)
  • 02/13 – Vandergrift, PA (2 days later)
  • 02/19 – West Jordan, UT (6 days later)
  • 02/20 – Westford, MA (1 day later)
  • 02/22 – Covington, KY (2 days later)
  • 02/23 – St-Henri, QC (1 day later)
  • 02/27 – Great Falls, MT  (4 days later)
  • 02/28 – Selkirk, NY (1 day later)
  • 03/11 – Mortlach, SK (11 days later)
  • 03/14 – Clifton, AZ (3 days later)
  • 03/20 – White Pigeon, MI (6 days later)
  • 03/21 – Proctor, MN (1 day later)
  • 04/07 – Glens Falls, NY (17 days later)
  • 04/09 – Philadelphia, PA (2 days later)
  • 04/12 – Slateford, PA (3 days later)
  • 04/14 – Nairn, ON (2 days later)
  • 04/30 – Lynchburg, VA (16 days later), detonation
  • 05/08 – Estevan, SK (8 days later)
  • 05/09 – LaSalle, CO (1 day later)
  • 05/12 – Albany, NY (3 days later)
  • 05/23 – Fort Frances, ON (11 days later)
  • 05/31 – Tulsa, OK (8 days later)
  • 06/07 – McKeesport, PA (7 days later)
  • 06/09 – Pictou County, NS (2 day later)
  • 06/16 – Tuscaloosa, AL (7 days later)
  • 06/20 – Winnipeg, MB (4 days later)
  • 06/22 – Blytheville, AR (2 days later)
  • 06/23 – Phoenix, AZ and Navasota, TX (1 day later)
  • 07/01 – McKeesport, PA (8 days later)
  • 07/02 – Sewickley, PA (1 day later)
  • 07/03 – Superior, MT (1 day later)
  • 07/04 – Whitecourt, AB (1 day later)
  • 07/10 – Brockville, ON (6 days later)
  • 07/13 – Three Hills, AB (3 days later)
  • 07/16 – Mortlach, SK (3 days later)
  • 07/17 – Everett, WA (1 day later)
  • 07/18 – El Paso, TX (1 day later)
  • 07/20 – Slinger, WI (2 days later)
  • 07/24 – Dexter, MO and Seattle, WA (4 days later)
  • 07/25 – Spartanburg, SC (1 day later)
  • 07/30 – Selkirk, NY (5 days later)
  • 08/01 – Baton Rouge, LA and Kingston, ON (2 days later)

BombTrains_2013-07-06_Lac-Megantic

Public forum on Big Oil Trains in Martinez Feb. 26

On Facebook: facebook.com/events/834097813284056/
Print and distribute: BIG OIL FLYER

Big Oil Trains: Derailing Community Safety

A forum about increased rail accidents, refinery dangers, and climate change. BigOilInOurMidst_header How will refinery expansions and transportation of crude oil by rail affect YOUR town?

A panel of experts and activists will inform residents of Benicia, Martinez, Rodeo, Crockett and Port Costa of Big Oil’s plans, both local and global.

Wednesday, Feb. 26th at 6:30 PM Veterans War Memorial Building, 930 Ward Street, Martinez (@ the corner of Ward and Court Streets)

Please join our panelists for presentations and Q & A:

  • Marilaine Savard: spokesperson for a citizens’ group in the region of Lac-Mégantic, Québec.  Last year, a string of exploding petroleum rail cars destroyed the center of the town and claimed 47 lives.
  • Antonia Juhasz: oil industry analyst, journalist, and author of “The Tyranny of Oil: The World’s Most Powerful Industry and What We Must do to Stop It” and “Black Tide: the Devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill”.
  • Diane Bailey, senior scientist at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council).
  • Marilyn Bardet:  watchdog activist for the Valero refinery  and founding member of Benicia’s Good Neighbor Steering Committee.
  • Nancy Rieser: spokesperson, Crockett-Rodeo-Hercules Working Group, challenging Phillips 66 on its Propane Expansion Project.
  • Kalli Graham: spokesperson, Pittsburg Defense Council, fighting the proposed WesPac oil terminal.

Sponsored by:SunflowerAlliance_logoIn partnership with: Sierra Club, 350 Bay Area, Communities for a Better Environment, Richmond Progressive Alliance, ForestEthics, Pittsburg Defense Council, Pittsburg Ethics Council, Benicians for a Safe and Healthy Community, and the Crockett-Rodeo-Hercules Working Group.

Print and distribute: BIG OIL FLYER

For those in other towns, we have related forums in Pittsburg and Richmond!  See http://sunflower-alliance.org/forums-on-the-new-dangers-of-extreme-energy/