Big Oil destroys small town. News outlets silent.

[Reapin]

Runaway train carrying crude oil explodes near Maine border; Quebec town center in ruins, many people missing

LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec — A driverless freight train carrying tankers of crude oil derailed at high speed and exploded into a giant fireball in the middle of a small Canadian town early Saturday, destroying dozens of buildings, killing at least one person and leaving an unknown number of people missing.

The disaster occurred shortly after 1 a.m. when the runaway train with 73 cars sped into Lac-Megantic, a picturesque lakeside town of about 6,000 people near the border with Maine, and came off the rails. Witnesses said the town center was crowded at the time.

Four of the pressurized tank cars caught fire and blew up in a fireball that mushroomed many hundreds of feet up into the air. The train was transporting crude oil from North Dakota to eastern Canada, likely to New Brunswick, news that is bound to revive questions about the safest way to carry the oil needed to service North America’s economies.

http://bangordailynews.com/2013/07/06/news/state/explosions-erupt-from-derailed-train-carrying-petroleum-products-in-quebec/

http://bdnpull.bangorpublishing.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/10015421_H10822811-250x250.jpg

[tenkakahn]

We had a plane crash in San Francisco today

[chtulu]

stfu

[Hailto]

"Big oil destroys small town"

Lol.

[Rhambuk]

http://bangordailynews.com/2013/07/06/news/state/explosions-erupt-from-derailed-train-carrying-petroleum-products-in-quebec/

Thats my town!

shame what happened, send the next train!

[Rhambuk]

Bangor anyway...not quebec

[Stibe]

Lol, blaming big oil.

[Malice_Mizer]

They could always try to throw some paper towels on it.

[sanforce]

Retarded title and OP. If it read, "Incapable Train Operator destroys small town", or something along those lines - I might agree. The fact that they were freighting crude oil has nothing to do with "big oil". It wasn't an Exxon Mobil train or anything like that.

Should we blame the plane crash that happened yesterday on big oil? I mean, they had Jet A on board, it must have been "big oil". Along those lines, every drunk driving accident that happens in the world MUST be due to "big oil", because those cars need gasoline to drive.

[Alawen]

There was no human operator on board the train. Rail World Inc., the parent company who owns the train and the track, is a privately held leveraged buyout investment firm.

Who's your scapegoat now? Never mind, the invisible hand of the free market will fix it. Rail World will serve up some hapless middle manager and maybe one of their subsidiaries will declare bankruptcy after moving all assets to another subsidiary.

[Rhambuk]

oil prices ++++++

[katrik]

For whatever reason, it's a couple of days late.. But it's definitely in the news.

[SamwiseRed]

http://www.american.com/archive/2008/october-10-08/is-big-oil-for-obama/FeaturedImage

[Hasbinbad]

so who buys and sells the transport contracts for shipping petroleum products for the cheapest possible price which may or may not have led to cutting back on safety measures?

[Hasbinbad]

so who buys and sells the transport contracts for shipping petroleum products for the cheapest possible price which may or may not have led to cutting back on safety measures?
any valid answer to this question constitutes one aspect of "big oil" imho

[Rhambuk]

Haven't looked into it but from what I've heard from the news/theories etc.

When the train reached the maine border there were protesters as maine citizens did not want it going through out state. The police broke up the protest and allowed the train to pass. The train reached its destination and an engineer checked on it set the brakes etc and went to his hotel room for the night. Somehow the cars released from the engine and rolled backwards, how this happened is a mystery as all cars have emergency brakes (My father worked for the railroad company a long time ago and knows this for fact. Somehow 70 cars emergency brake systems failed and they all rolled backwards into the town.

Doesn't really sound like an error, im thinking some angry protester wanted to make a statement but nothing will ever be known because BOOM everything is destroyed.

[Nizzarr]

Since this happened ~100 km from where I live, I know pretty much what happened.

There was an engine fire in the head locomotives @ 11:25pm est that friday night, this happened where they park the train for the shift change. The firefighters turned off the engine, releasing the air from the air compressor. They park the train at the start of a big steep hill, more steep than any railroad should be at. The MMA engineers then restarted the engine, but with no air in the compressors, the train started going down the hill with no brakes to stop it.

There was no protestors or anything. I've been hearing about this for the past 3 days in the news. Still 7 confirmed deaths and 40 missing people.

[Hasbinbad]

rhambuk outed by saint nizzarr and confirmed as liar by community

[Barkingturtle]

Or this Nizzarr character might be one of the protestors....

[radditsu]

would rather have train spill then a pipeline bust, train can only spill what it has on it, pipeline can be alot worse.

a great deal worse

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill

[Reapin]

I have not eaten seafood since.

[sanforce]

a great deal worse

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill


That was a wellhead blowout, not a transportation pipe burst. But yea, crude being spilled is bad, whether it be by blowout, tanker, pipeline, or train.

[Froglok]

stfu

[Rhambuk]

Since this happened ~100 km from where I live, I know pretty much what happened.

There was an engine fire in the head locomotives @ 11:25pm est that friday night, this happened where they park the train for the shift change. The firefighters turned off the engine, releasing the air from the air compressor. They park the train at the start of a big steep hill, more steep than any railroad should be at. The MMA engineers then restarted the engine, but with no air in the compressors, the train started going down the hill with no brakes to stop it.

There was no protestors or anything. I've been hearing about this for the past 3 days in the news. Still 7 confirmed deaths and 40 missing people.

oh wow I didnt hear anything of a fire etc, there isnt a lot of news about it down here. You must be in canada im assuming not on my side of the border, horrible event anyway.

rhambuk outed by saint nizzarr and confirmed as liar by community

Must. Find. REDEMPTION!!!!