Oil train forum Wednesday in Sandpoint

SANDPOINT - The Idaho Conservation League will be hosting an oil train forum titled, "Pipeline on Wheels Through North Idaho," Wednesday, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Heartwood Center, 615 Oak St.

"We're hoping to get people better informed about oil trains in general so they will be ready to comment when the time comes," conservation associate Susan Drumheller said.

Mile-long trains carrying highly volatile Bakken crude oil are traveling through Bonners Ferry, Sandpoint and Rathdrum on a daily basis. The number of trains are destined to increase as more oil terminals are built on the West Coast, according to a press release.

"The risks of hauling Bakken crude oil by rail are becoming better known since at least 10 oil train derailments in the last two years resulted in oil spills, explosions, and even deaths throughout North America," the press release said. "Communities across the country are scrambling to cope with these threats; these 'bomb trains' have potential to violently explode along tracks running past schools, downtowns, homes and local businesses."

Locally, those concerns have prompted new federal regulations, resolutions from the Sandpoint City Council, and stepped-up disaster planning in Bonner, Boundary and Kootenai counties.

Co-hosted by Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeepers and the Sightline Institute, a panel of experts will discuss proposals for new coastal oil terminals that would increase the volume of oil trains through Sandpoint and North Idaho. According to the press release, those proposals have led to an increase in local disaster preparedness, environmental threats and rail safety issues.

Eric de Place, policy director at Sightline Institute, a Seattle-based organization focused on sustainability, will headline the event. De Place has written extensively on the issue of oil transport by rail and is considered an authority on crude oil transport in the region.

"The view I tend to bring to these forums is sort of an overarching regional picture, and some discussion of why this is happening here and why this is happening now," de Place said prior to a similar forum in Grays Harbor, Wash., where multiple oil terminals are proposed. "There are reasons why we've seen this rush of proposals in the last few years."

Joining de Place on the panel will be:

* Selkirk Fire, Rescue and EMS Chief Ron Stocking, who is active in local disaster planning, including a full-scale exercise this fall to practice local response to derailment involving Bakken oil trains.

* Jen Wallis, a freight conductor/switchman for BNSF and the international steering committee co-chair and founding member of the Railroad Workers United.

* Shannon Williamson, Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper, and Sandpoint City Council member, who recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx on the issue of the new federal rules for oil trains.

For more information contact Susan Drumheller at (208) 265-9565, or Serena Larkin at 206-447-1880 ext. 111, or serena@sightline.org.