The 350.org Team The 350.org Team May 20, 2014

Seattle Fights Exploding Oil Trains

By Carlo Voli, 350 Seattle

Last Tuesday, members of 350 Seattle and Rising Tide Seattle showed up to the Years of Living Dangerously screening that Governor Inslee attended to remind him that he can and should declare a moratorium on all new proposed oil by rail infrastructure projects in Washington State.

This particular episode of Years of Living Dangerously featured the Governor as a true climate champion and many of his actions since he became governor of Washington State are proving that he is such.

Before the showing, 350 and Rising Tide folks stood across the street holding exploding oil train props. The Governor was so attracted by the visuals that he crossed the street, thanked the activists, and had a brief direct exchange about the oil train issue.

Watch this great video of what happened here:

After the showing, during the Q &A, a banner was unfurled from the balcony emblazoned with “Governor Inslee: Moratorium on Oil Trains Now!” and a courageous young woman in the audience asked if it was true that he could declare a moratorium on all the new oil by rail projects.
The Governor admitted that he was concerned about the safety of the transport of Bakken crude oil in outdated and inadequate tank cars, but he did not want to question or address the fact that more and more Bakken crude oil is coming to Washington State refineries via rail. If any of the 4 proposed oil terminals were to be approved, that would open the floodgates to even more Bakken crude, and eventually tar sands bitumen coming in via rail and destined for export through Washington State ports.
This is just the latest action by 350 Seattle since last January in their campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of these exploding oil trains and to try and keep as much of this fracked oil and tar sands in the ground. They’ve held successful and creative rallies; helped the Seattle City Council pass a stronger petroleum by rail resolution; placed ads about the danger of oil trains on the inside of 40 Seattle buses; participated in a week-long train watch to figure out exactly how many oil trains were passing by Seattle; and helped energize and organize folks  in Skagit County to oppose Shell’s plans to gain a permit to build an oil by rail unloading facility at its refinery in Anacortes, WA.
Check out 350 Seattle’s website to get more involved in their ongoing work!

For more climate movement news, follow 350 on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

$10
$35
$50
$100
$350
Choose a different amount

FacebookTwitter