Amtrak wreck — too close to tankers!
May 14th, 2015
As if that 106 MPH Amtrak wreck wasn’t bad enough, look how close it was to those black tankers! Maybe 15 feet? What’s in those black tanker cars? Bakken BOOM! crude? We know lots of it goes through Philly, some from there to the Delaware City refinery. Seven killed, hundreds injured. All this next to a rail yard with tankers.
When is rail safety going to be taken seriously?
Now what’s Micheletti up to?
April 21st, 2015
Doesn’t this guy ever quit? New legislation with new option, wanting to change the law to allow a “biomass” plant on the Mesaba Project site. WHAT? Aren’t they paying attention to the Laurentian Energy Authority’s unworkable “biomass” projects in Hibbing and Virginia, the “biomass” plants that don’t have enough feedstock and so are burning coal? Did they forget that the MPCA has only issued one woody biomass permit, for Laurentian (Hibbing and Virginia) and that that permit was violated, so extremely that the MPCA issued fines and reworked the permit?
LEGALECTRIC POST: Laurentian “biomass” Air Permit Draft (second time around)
LEGALECTRIC POST: “Biomass” violates air permit – fines likely
DOH!
Thanks to a little birdie for the heads up on this.
Here’s the change, hidden in Senate File 2101:
Today, say NO to lines 191.4 – 191.19 of Senate File 2101.
Overland’s Plains & Eastern DEIS Comments
April 20th, 2015
Quick comments — this project is bizarre, a private project proposed on request of DOE (with applicant ringleader a former DOE employee) that has no demonstrable need. ???
Here’s the link for the DEIS, from their site:
The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Plains & Eastern Clean Line Transmission Project (DOE/EIS–0486; Draft EIS) is now available
I do hope the DOE will explain how they intend to review this under Section 1222… it’s all too bizarre for words!
Fukushima Daiichi — 4 years ago today
March 11th, 2015
Four years ago today nuclear reactors at Fukushima Daiichi started melting down.
… same type of reactor that it is in Monticello, along the Mississippi River, upriver and just northwest of the Twin Cities.
Four years later…
Four years later…
Some residents to ‘come home to Fukushima disaster zone
The government says about 138,000 Fukushima residents are still living in temporary accommodation.
Four years later…
Four years later…
Navy Sailors Possibly Exposed to Fukushima Radiation Fight for Justice
Another BNSF Bakken BOOM! near Galena, IL
March 5th, 2015
BNSF Update (21 cars derailed, 5 burning)
Another BNSF Bakken oil BOOM! train has derailed and blown up. Evacuations are happening as I type within a 1 mile radius of the wreck. DOH! How much more of this will we have to take?
Access will be a problem on this one too, “had to access it by bike trail.” Great, just great… They couldn’t get to the source of the fire, and had to leave quickly for safety reasons, abandoning over $10k of equipment at the site. They’re going to “let it burn out.” Could be a while. EPA is on way from Chicago, BNSF crews from area. There’s some good video on the KWQC link way below. The oil is going down from the railroad grade, burning, and trees down there are on fire too, it’s a wooded area, and could go up in flames. It’s not directly on the river, but the river isn’t that far away.
Dubuque Telegraph Herald — UPDATE: Evacuations underway as railcars burn near Galena
WQAD: Train carrying oil derails near Galena, Illinois
STrib: BNSF freight train loaded with crude oil derails near Illinois city of Galena, catches fire
Chicago Sun-Times: State agencies mobilize after crude oil train derails near Galena
Posted at Chicago Sun-Times:
KWQC: Clean-up crews on scene at train derailment site near Galena, Ill.
Visible on the ski slope cameras: Live slope top cameras located at Chestnut Mountain Ski Resort. Dark now, but should be visible again tomorrow.
Reuters: BNSF oil train derails in rural Illinois; two cars aflame
KWWL: UPDATE: 8 train cars derail; 2 continue to burn crude oil