It's been nearly a year since a train derailed under a busy Seattle bridge, tipping three oil tanker cars off the tracks in Magnolia during the morning commute. No one was hurt in the accident but the near-miss spurred city officials into action.
A new resolution is going before the city council that outlines Seattle's wish list for regulations of crude oil shipments by rail.
It makes a series of requests to other entities on the state, federal and county levels.
“The reality is there’s not a lot of specific things that the city can do, where we have authority,” said Councilmember Mike O'Brien, the chief sponsor of the resolution.
But, he said, city staff have spent "countless hours" researching what could be done to minimize oil-train risks. A senior policy advisor from the Mayor's office briefed the Planning and Land Use Committee on their efforts. The resolution codifies their requests and points to specific federal laws they endorse.
Seattle has been working with BNSF Railway to get upgrades to the 100-year-old tunnel under downtown thatBNSFowns. It needs a new emergency radio communication system. And the city is asking for more detail from the railroad on everything from how to get the right fire suppressing foams and ventilation equipment in place there, to what kind of insurance policy it could realistically rely on if there were a big oil fire anywhere in the city.
Federal regulators have already prompted some improvements, including lower speeds and safer tanker-cars, but the council is still pushing for stricter laws regarding exactly what kinds of fuels can be shipped and how to fund upgrades that communities need. O'Brien says Cities like Seattle shouldn’t have to subsidize the oil and rail industries.
“They’re making significant profit on this and we as a city are bearing the risk,” he said.
The resolution also calls for restrictions on oil train traffic during large sporting events at Safeco and Century Link Fields, since the tracks run so close to them.
It’s estimated by the Department of Ecology that as many as 119 mile-long oil trains a week could be running through the state over the next few years, if all the proposed facilities (export terminals and upgrades to refineries) are permitted and built. About two thirds of that oil train traffic would run through Seattle.
Seattle's council website has a timeline on the issue here.
