Another oil train crashes and burns: CSC CSX near Charleston WV

Yet another fireball, water supply turned off, state of emergency, from an oil train. When did you last hear of a solar farm explosion? Do we expect hastily-built and unnecessary fracked methane pipelines to be any safer than these shoddy exploding shale oil train tank cars? How long must fossil fuel fireballs rain down before we all get on with clean sun, wind, and water to power the world?

Fireball above Boomer, WV; Photo credit: Deslyne Copening

Marcus Constantino, Multimedia reporter and Matt Murphy, Charleston Daily Mail, 16 February 2015, Crude oil train derails in Fayette County, WV,

Residents who were near the derailment of a crude oil train in Fayette County say it shook and rocked their community like a Biblical judgment.

Around 1:20 p.m. Monday, a CSX train carrying crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken formation derailed in the Mount Carbon area of Fayette County, sending oil tankers off the tracks, with some reaching the Kanawha River.

The train, consisting of two locomotives and 109 rail cars, was en route to Yorktown, Va. As of Monday evening, it was unknown how much oil spilled from the train.

According to a statement on its website, CSX is “working with first responders to address the fire, to determine how many rail cars derailed, and to deploy environmental protective measures and monitoring on land, air and in the nearby Kanawha River. The company also is working with public officials and investigative agencies to address their needs.”

The railroad also said one person was being treated for inhalation, but no other injuries have been reported.

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency for Kanawha and Fayette counties because of the event.

Some of that oil caught fire, sending fireballs and plumes of thick, black smoke into the air.

“I saw a plume, an inferno, a pillar, like something Biblical or wrath-of-God type stuff,” said Boomer resident Charles Keenan said. “I heard a big boom and a hiss, it was the fuel hissing, and then it went ‘boom,’ and I felt the heat. I was on Route 60, across the river, and I felt the heat and ran because I thought it was going to rain down.”


Raw: Large Flames Near WV Train Derailment, Associated Press

How long?

-jsq