Bomb Trains on the Hudson BOAT MOTORING ON THE HUDSON RIVER TITLE CARD, ‘BOMB TRAINS ON THE HUDSON’ Roger Downs VO The transport of petroleum products up and down the river to the port of Albany is not new. I mean we’ve been doing that for the better part of a hundred years. LOWER THIRD, ROGER DOWNS, CONSERVATION DIRECTOR, SIERRA CLUB ATLANTIC CHAPTER Roger Downs VO: What is new that this is a crude product that isn’t part of a local economic consumption pattern Scenes from North Dakota oil drilling and rail cars Roger Downs VO: This is bakken crude that is coming from a South Dakota—North Dakota and is coming by rail. So that’s almost 3 billion gallons of oil a year. MAP SHOWING ROUTES FROM BAKKEN SHALE FIELDS IN NORTH DAKOTA TO ALBANY-PHILADELPHIA Roger Downs VO: Bakken crude is different from other crude oil. It has a flashpoint less than 74 degrees. RAIL CARS Roger DOWNS VO: It’s shipped in these containers called D-O-T 111’s, it is a containment unit meant for liquids not necessarily hazardous materials. Paul Gallay VO: The transportation safety board has said 85% of these cars should not be handling this sort of petroleum. A hundred and twenty cars on some of these trains, 30 thousand gallons of fuel per car, very volatile fuel. When it comes down to it, each of these train cars is like a rolling bomb. LOWER THIRD - PAUL GALLAY, PRESIDENT, HUDSON RIVERKEEPER Ned Sullivan VO: This is the greatest threat to the Hudson I’ve experienced in my entire career. These trains that run for almost 50 miles right next to the river carrying highly explosive crude oil in rail cars that were not designed for this, that sheer on impact. LOWER THIRD - NED SULLIVAN, PRESIDENT, SCENIC HUDSON Roger Downs VO: The worst-case scenario is that bomb trains can come off the rails, they could explode and there could be dramatic loss of life. STILL PHOTO, LAC MEGANTIC Roger Downs VO: We’ve see some cataclysmic accidents; Lac-Mégantic certainly is the poster child for this. VIDEO CLIP, Lac-Mégantic EXPLOSION, Credit TK Roger Downs VO: This is a derailment that killed 47 people and a leveled a town. STILL PHOTO, LAC MEGANTIC AERIAL, Credit TK Paul Gallay VO: The risk associated with the crude oil trains is many fold. We could draw the short straw next. STILL PHOTO, ALICEVILLE, ALABAMA ACCIDENT, NOVEMBER 2013, Credit TK STILL PHOTO, Casselton, NORTH DAKOTA, DECEMBER 2013, Credit TK STILL PHOTO, LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA, APRIL 2014, Credit TK STILL PHOTO, PARKERS PRAIRIE, MINNESOTA, MARCH 2013, Credit TK STILL PHOTO, LA SALLE, COLORADO, MAY 2014, Credit TK STILL PHOTO, TIMMINS, ONTARIO, CANADA, FEBRUARY 2015, Credit TK STILL PHOTO, GALENA, ILLINOIS, MARCH 2015, Credit TK STILL PHOTO, GOGAMA, ONTARIO, CANADA, MARCH 2015, Credit TK STILL PHOTO, MOUNT CARBON, WEST VIRGINIA, FEBRUARY 2015, Credit TK Roger Downs VO: When you’re talking about the city of Albany where you’ve got a 100,000 people living, if something like Lac-Mégantic happened here, I mean we’ve got the state capital, we’ve got major hospitals and government buildings very close to these rail road tracks. It could be quite significant. TEXT CARD: LAST YEAR OVER 400,000 RAILCARS FILLED WITH CRUDE OIL WERE TRANSPORTED TO REFINERIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY. TRACKS PASS WITHIN 5 MILES OF MANHATTAN. C/U OF MAP ILLUSTRATING CSX TRAIN ROUTE RUNNIG THROUGH NEW JERSEY ACROSS THE RIVER FROM MANHATTAN Roger Downs VO: But if they go into the river, this is a very difficult crude to clean up— Ned Sullivan VO: This has been allowed to occur without having in place the kinds of regulatory constraints, without having spill response plans in place, without having equipment pre-deployed to protect our sensitive resources here in the Hudson valley, they’re not ready for this. They are not ready. Roger Downs VO: We are just collateral damage between point A and point B. We don’t see any economic revenue from this. Roger Downs VO: The state and governor have argued, “We can’t do anything about it.” Railroad law trumps everything else. Ned Sullivan VO: There’s no benefit, it’s passing right through; all we’re getting here is the risk and risk could be catastrophic. FINAL TEXT CARD: FEDERAL REGULATORS ARE WEIGHING MEASURES TO INCREASE THE SAFETY OF TRAINS CARRYING OIL. ADVOCATES RECOMMEND OPTIONS INCLUDING SHORTER TRAINS, STRONGER RAIL CARS AND LESS EXPLOSIVE MIXTURES OF FUEL.