Yesterday, three protesters had been arrested outside a Tesoro Refinery in Anacortes Washington. According to the Go Anacortes website, it described the reasoning behind the protest;
“The protesters were demanding an immediate halt to shipments of Bakken Oil through Northwest communities, the rejection of all new oil-by-rail terminals proposed for the Northwest, and an end to the refinery’s repeated violations of the Clean Air Act, according to a press release.” (1)
Bakken Oil production had been occurring since 2004, according to the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank (2);
Eco Watch had quoted the activists at the protest as saying;
“Thursday’s derailment was the last straw,” said Jan Woodruff, an Anacortes resident who was blockading the tracks. “If federal and state regulators won’t stand up to the fossil fuel companies endangering our communities, then we, the people of those communities, will do so.” (3)
On May 14th, a report was issued about another Tesoro accident according to the United States CSB;
CSB stands for, the Chemical Safety Board, whose primary function is investigate Chemical Refinery accidents. The Board had issued a video about the incident;
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| Schematic for the Tesoro Refinery Heat Exchanger Unit |
The NHT Unit was built in 1971, as the board writes;
Addressing Organizational Deficiencies related to safety culture, the board report stated;
As Oil and Gas Exploration increases, more protests related to Environmental Safety are expected to continue.
Web Sources:
http://www.goanacortes.com/news/article_00cc7258-1680-11e4-8508-0019bb2963f4.html (1)
http://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications_papers/fedgazette/oil/index.cfmkken (2)
http://ecowatch.com/2014/07/28/arrested-blockading-train-tracks-protest-oil-by-rail/ (3)
Public comments on Tesoro Refinery Draft Report http://tinyurl.com/mq4z2nb
