(I wrote this about a month ago. It is still a problem, and I urge everyone to get educated on this topic and share the information.)
Almost three months after the Aliceville train wreck, the
spilled crude oil is still spreading through the surrounding wetlands, and the clean-up
efforts appear to be minimal.
Three cars exploded out of the 12 that derailed on Nov. 8,
2013, in Aliceville, leaking thousands of gallons of Bakken crude into wetlands
feeding into the Tombigbee River.
Bakken crude oil is more volatile than conventional crude and
gasoline, making it more dangerous to transport by rail than other oil. Transport
of this crude has caused more explosion than any others, nicknaming the trains
“bomb trains.”
“This is nothing to play with,” said
John Wathen, Hurricane Creekkeeper and watchdog environmentalist.
Scott Smith, a member of Water
Defense, an organization working to keep drinking water clean, said these kinds
of disasters can be found all over the country.
A couple of days after the wreck,
Smith accompanied Wathen to the derailing site to explore since officials said
the oil was confined and there was no environmental or human threat. Smith
wanted to donate a product he invented called OPFLEX Eelgrass, a sponge-like filtration
system that soaks up oil and repeals water. It can be rung out and reused,
which would also reduce waste.
Wathen said a man claiming to be with the railroad threatened
them with the Sheriff’s Department and the FBI upon arrival. Wathen said he was
concerned the site was not properly being taken care of.
That day, Wathen and Smith were also told them the crude was
mostly cleaned up, but Wathen’s investigations have proven otherwise. Since the
explosion, he has driven to the derailing site several times to take
photographs and observe the clean-up efforts.
Wathen said it took the railroad
crew less than a week to rebuild the tracks and have trains running again. They
rebuild so quickly by not taking any of the oil-soaked sand out, but instead
covering it up. Now, even if the oil in the water gets cleaned up, more oil
will just seep out of the sand.
“It’s money overriding the
environment,” said Kenneth Robinson, a member of Friends of Hurricane Creek.
Robinson visits the wreck site with
Wathen and shares his view about the negligence of the clean-up.
The Alabama Department of
Environmental Management set up wooden poles holding up cloth sheets to keep
the oil confined. The once-white sheets are now soaked in crude and falling off
the poles in several places, letting the crude flow through. There are also
pom-poms distributed throughout the water with hopes they will soak up the
crude. They are soiled and look as if no one has changed them in weeks. Wathen
said he has not seen a worker out there changing the cleaning supplies in
months.
“This is a continuous neglect
situation,” Wathen said.
The oil is spreading outside of its
confinement area, and Wathen has taken samples that were tested to confirm they
are Bakken crude.
Since officials are still
investigating the cause of the incident, they decided to reroute the oil trains
through Downtown Northport and Tuscaloosa, on the track that runs over the
Black Warrior River and near the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater.
Both Wathen and Robinson said they
are concerned about the safety of the community with these trains running
through one of the most populated areas of the city.
Wathen went to inspect the bridge
running over the amphitheater and noticed many broken or rotted wooden beams, with
only a few make-shift repairs. This is one of the oldest bridges in the state,
and was never designed to hold the kind of weight that the crude oil trains
carry. Wathen said that there could be an accident at any time, and most people
do not even know these trains are rolling through the area.
Crude oil trains can sometimes be up
to 100 cars long, each carrying about 30,000 gallons. Each car is marked with a
red sign with the numbers “1267” and a “3” signifying it to be the most
flammable.
“We’re messing with stuff we’re not
supposed to be messing with,” Robinson said. “It’s underground for a reason.”
Wathen and Robinson want to raise
awareness and expose the truth about incidences like the one in Aliceville. Robinson
said he hopes to make people understand that this is messing with the drinking
water, and they need to fight to preserve natural resources.
To
get more information and view Wathen’s photographs and videos, visit his blog
at http://bakkendebate.blogspot.com.
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