from Earth First! Newswire
Three locals locked their arms inside barrels full of cement on Tesoro’s train tracks in Anacortes, Washington, this morning to protest oil-by-rail shipments in the Pacific Northwest.
Anacortes is host to a Tesoro refinery, which exploded four years ago, leading to the deaths of seven workers. Tesoro is currently planning to expand their refinery to process greater quantities of oil for export.
An oil train derailed under a high-traffic bridge in Seattle last thursday, prompting grave concerns about safety.
According to Seattle Rising Tide’s Twitter account, Anacortes resident Jan Woodruff declared, “Thursday’s derailment was the last straw.”
Oil train derailments in Canada and the US have caused massive explosions and fatalities. The oil train explosion in Lac-Megantic was the deadliest train accident in Canada since 1864, killing forty-two people and destroying half the town center.
New oil terminals are slated to be built in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon.