Volatile Shale Oil Can Be Made Safer Before Shipping...

So let's get busy requiring the dangerous oil's stabilization before trains carrying it cross into Wisconsin, over our rivers and through our neighborhoods, according to US Rep. Ron Kind, (D).

These trains regularly run through Wisconsin:

More than three dozen trains carrying volatile crude oil move through Wisconsin each week from the Northern Plains, disclosures from railroads show.

State officials released the information in response to a public records request from The Associated Press.

The disclosures show BNSF Railway is the primary hauler of oil, moving between 26 and 44 trains per week along an eight-county route that parallels the Mississippi River in western Wisconsin. Canadian Pacific Railway moves on average four trains a week along a route that crosses from La Crosse southeast to Milwaukee, then down into Illinois.

     Each train can carry about 3 million gallons     of oil. 

For the record, I noted the lack of aggressive shale oil rail shipping safety planning in Wisconsin by state officials seven months ago - - to the day.

This is the proverbial accident - - like these - - waiting to happen in Wisconsin.

And any discussion of oil train safety in Wisconsin has to be combined with discussion of the overall risks of shale oil and tar sand fracking and extraction, and also in the context of the various tar sand pipeline expansion proposals on the table in Wisconsin, along with the completely insane notion of shipping Bakken crude oil across the Great Lakes.

Sample post, here.