MAY 29, 2015
ALBANY, NEW YORK
A state oil spill cleanup fund, recently boosted from $25
million to $40 million, is still woefully short of what could be needed after a
major spill, explosion or fire, and should eventually grow to as much as $2
billion, according to a report on oil train safety issued this week by a county
advisory committee to Albany County Executive Dan McCoy.
Issued late Friday, a separate oil safety report by Albany
City Mayor Kathy
Sheehan also recommended construction of a "sound/safety wall" to
protect South End neighborhoods around the Port of Albany, which is the
destination each week for hundreds of oil tanker rail cars coming from the
Bakken fields of North Dakota.
Commissioned by McCoy a year ago, the 19-page county report
also urged the federal government adopt more aggressive crude oil train tank
car safety standards and phase-out of older, less-sturdy oil train tankers
faster than rules just approved this month. It also calls for the Capital
Region to be added to places where crude oil trains must slow down to 40 mph.
Both these steps were also suggested by the Sheehan report.
The county report also called for the state to take a
comprehensive look at the impact of major oil shipments into and through
Albany. Currently, two oil terminals are allowed to handle up to 2.8 billion
gallons of crude oil annually after the state Department
of Environmental Conservation decided several years ago shipments would
have no significant adverse environmental impact.
According to the Sheehan report, construction of a
protective wall between the port and surrounding neighborhoods could be
"undertaken immediately and will be a show of good faith to the community
... it will reduce dust that comes from the traffic, and will serve to
partially protect the community form other air pollutants released from
the port."
The county report was authored by Peter
Iwanowicz, executive director of Environmental
Advocates of New York; Chris
Amato, a staff attorney for the environmental group EarthJustice, and Phillip
Landrigan, a doctor a Mount
Sinai Hospital in New York City. Amato also was part of a lawsuit filed
against DEC this year over claims the agency did not give enough scrutiny to a
planned crude oil heating plant at the Port of Albany; this month, DEC revoked
its earlier environmental nod for the project.
"This report echoes the concerns I have expressed to
the DEC and the U.S. Department of Transportation on the safety hazards that we
face every day," said McCoy in a statement on Friday. "There have
been five oil tanker derailments this year in North America. We are fortunate
that there has been no loss of life, but we have to be prepared should there be
an incident in an urban area like Albany."
In this year's state budget, a 1970s-era oil spill cleanup
fund was increased from a maximum of $25 million to $40 million, which the
report called "vastly underfunded." The figure ought to be increased
to $2 billion and paid for by a fee on crude oil shipments, the
report said.
"While the state fund was increased to $40 million,
that doesn't even keep pace with inflation since the law was enacted,"
said Iwanowicz. "If it did, the fund would be more than $100 million —
which would still not be enough."
The federal government also should impose national insurance
requirements on freight railroads that haul the highly flammable crude oil, the
report added.
Canadian federal lawmakers are considering an insurance
requirement for crude oil trains in the wake of a fiery July 2013 oil train
crash that killed 47 people and incinerated the heart of the small town of Lac
Megantic in Quebec.
The railroad involved in that crash carried only $25
million in insurance, and cleanup and repair bills estimated at more than $1
billion are being borne by taxpayers.
Currently in the U.S., there are no federal or state
insurance requirements for such oil trains. The proposed Canadian law would tax
oil shipped by rail to create a fund of up to $250 million to cover damage that
exceeds railroad insurance, which would be set at $1 billion minimum for large
railroads, and phased in to reach up to $250 million for smaller railroads that
carry oil over relatively short distances.
