XPost: can.politics, ab.politics, bc.politics   
   XPost: man.politics, ont.politics, sk.politics   
   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
   The Canadian Press - Saturday, Oct. 19 2013   
      
     Ottawa must improve rail safety or disasters will be the ‘new normal,’   
   Greenpeace says   
      
      
      
   TORONTO — Train disasters such as Saturday’s derailment in Alberta will   
   become the “new normal” unless Ottawa tightens safety rules for shipping   
   dangerous goods by rail, Greenpeace Canada warned.   
      
   A CN train carrying crude oil and gas went off the tracks overnight in a   
   hamlet west of Edmonton, sparking a massive fire that reportedly   
   triggered two explosions.   
      
   It’s the third major derailment in the province in recent months, at a   
   time when rail safety is increasingly under scrutiny.   
      
   Greenpeace said given the industry’s outdated safety standards, it’s   
   only a matter of time until disaster strikes again.   
      
   Keith Stewart, the organization’s climate and energy campaign   
   co-ordinator, said the federal government has taken some steps since   
   July’s devastating derailment in Lac-Mégantic, Que., but not enough to   
   mitigate the risks.   
      
   He wants Ottawa to launch a comprehensive review of the safety   
   regulations for transporting oil, whether by train or other means.   
      
   “Unless they’re actually willing to bring in serious new safety measures   
   for oil by rail, this will become the new normal,” he said Saturday in a   
   phone interview from Vancouver.   
      
   “Three years ago, there was almost no oil being moved by rail. It’s been   
   growing incredibly rapidly and it’s projected to keep growing that way   
   and the safety standards in Canada simply have not kept up to the new   
   ways to move new kinds of oil,” he said.   
      
   “I think what’s happened is we’re putting more and more oil on an   
   infrastructure that is aging and wasn’t really designed for it in the   
   first place and that’s increasing risks.”   
      
   There were no reports of injuries in Saturday’s derailment, but the tiny   
   community of Gainford was evacuated due to the fire.   
      
   Ben West, a campaigner with environmental group Forest Ethics, said the   
   latest derailment raises questions about the continued use of older oil   
   train cars he called more vulnerable to spilling upon derailment.   
      
   “In the short term, with the existing traffic, we really should be   
   looking at what kind of train cars are being used. Some of these old   
   cars seem really problematic.”   
      
   “It is possible with newer cars to at least try to make sure the fuel   
   inside of the cars isn’t making its way into the local environment” when   
   a derailment occurs, he said.   
      
   West said the federal government is allowing the expansion of   
   oil-by-rail as a substitute method to move more fuel at a time when   
   major pipeline projects face major hurdles, such as complex approval   
   processes and fierce opposition.   
      
   “To try to get around the pipeline process by pushing more rail through,   
   especially with the implications of it, seems highly irresponsible to me   
   and fundamentally undemocratic without the kind of oversight and public   
   process we’ve had around the pipelines.”   
      
   Rail safety has been a hot button issue since tank cars filled with oil   
   exploded after rolling into Lac-Mégantic – a catastrophe that ravaged   
   the town’s historic core and claimed an estimated 47 lives.   
      
   Transport Canada issued several emergency orders in response to the   
   tragedy, requiring that at least two crew members must work trains that   
   carry dangerous goods.   
      
   In addition, no locomotive attached to one or more loaded tank cars   
   transporting dangerous materials can be left unattended on a main track.   
      
   The Federation of Canadian Municipalities also formed a rail-safety   
   working group shortly after the Lac-Mégantic derailment and asked   
   Transport Canada for more information about the transportation of   
   hazardous goods.   
      
   But federal officials have cautioned that such information could pose a   
   safety risk if it fell into the wrong hands.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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