Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
WASHINGTON – After another derailment of tankers carrying crude oil, this time near Albany, New York’s Junior U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is renewing her call for the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to urgently update and implement guidelines for safer transport of hazardous liquids.
In a recent media release, Gillibrand cites the Association of American Railroads, which reports oil shipments have increased from 9,500 carloads in 2008 to an estimated 400,000 carloads in 2013 nationally. Since December 2013, there have been at least 4 derailments in New York State, including West Nyack, Cheektowaga, Ulster, and Selkirk.
Gillibrand says that millions of New Yorkers live, work, and attend school within the vicinity of the train tracks, which can be travelled twice a day by trains over 100 cars long, and carrying 85,000 barrels of oil. CSX lines carrying crude oil run through neighborhoods in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany and New York City, as well as other cities, towns and villages around the state. An accident or explosion in any of these communities would have catastrophic consequences. As a result, she says more needs to be done to ensure public health and the environment won’t be threatened by the possibility of a future derailment.
In her letter to Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administrator Cynthia Quarterman, Gillibrand said she remains concerned about the timeline for finalizing a rule that improves standards and hopes the department will move more quickly to issue a draft rule that improves the safety of the tanker cars.
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