Giant Crude Fireball Sends 1000s Running For Their Lives

A mile-long train carrying crude oil Monday derailed, exploded, triggered a “giant fireball” and evacuations to prevent being poisoned in North Dakota. 

Shelters have been established for over 2,400 residents of Casselton and nearby areas under voluntary evacuation. They had first been told to shelter in place. 

[Photo: Tuesday, December 3, Toronto activists locked themselves to machinery on a construction site where Enbridge Oil Giant is replacing parts of its Line 9 pipeline, applying to reverse the flow of the pipeline to increase its capacity and to send tar sands diluted bitumen through it.]

Human Species In the Shadow of Chemical Valley 

“This has happened before and will inevitably happen again, unless a lot of changes are made,” said human and enviornmental rights singer-songwriter  David Rollics this morning in an email. “My latest CD includes the song, “Oil Train” (click title to stream or download), about an identical incident last summer involving an extremely long train full of North Dakota oil that derailed and exploded in Quebec, killing 47 people.”

The sheriff’s office said the National Weather Service has forecasted a wind shift that would push the smoke plume down, possibly posing a health risk.

“It’s burning very strong right now,” said Assistant Chief Gary Lorenz of the City of Fargo Fire Department, who was in touch with a crew on the scene. “You can see the plume of smoke for 25 miles.”

• Drowsiness
• Dizziness
• Rapid or irregular heartbeat
• Headaches
• Tremors
• Confusion
• Unconsciousness
• Death (at very high levels)

“If you can smell it, you’ve been poisoned,” according to toxicologists. (See: Vampire of Macondo, Life, crimes and curses in south Louisiana that Powerful Forces Don’t want you to know,)

“The Federal Railroad Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration have investigative teams en route to North Dakota and will work in concert with the National Transportation Safety Board, the lead investigator, to ascertain all the relevant facts that may have contributed to the accident,” Kevin Thompson, a Federal Railroad Administration spokesman, told NBC News.

“Pipelines are not the answer,” Rolics said.  “Windmills are, at least in part.”

This latest fossil fuel accident  sent flames shooting over 100 feet into the air.

Injuries have been immediately reported.

Up to 10 cars were fully engulfed.

‘Tar Sands Kill, Pipelines Spill’

Friday, Canadian front page news, with a half-page photo, covered a First Nation oil pipeline and fracking protest demonstration called ”Toxic Tour.”

The protest drew attention to human health and environmental impacts of living near fossil fuel pipelines and other related industries.  

Approximately 50 First Nation members and supporters left the community centre parking lot in the early afternoon chanting, “tar sands kill, pipelines spill,” on their way to the St. Clair River, and then on along St. Clair Parkway to LaSalle Line and east to Highway 40.

“We’re standing in solidarity with other communities who are standing up to fracking and to pipelines running through their territories,” said Vanessa Gray, a spokesperson with Aamjiwnaang and Sarnia Against Pipelines (ASAP).

Police stopped traffic on the parkway when several protesters climbed down the bank to the St. Clair River to offer tobacco to the water.