Train Derailment In Galena, Illinois
Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, hundreds of firefighters are in town this week to talk about legislative issues. I was honored to speak at the International Association of Fire Fighters conference and meet with firefighters from Illinois on Monday to thank them for keeping us safe.
Their visit is particularly timely given a couple of serious train accidents in the past few days. One accident, a derailment, happened in Galena, IL, last Thursday. Twenty-one cars carrying Bakken crude oil from North Dakota derailed there and five of them caught fire. Fortunately, the accident happened 2 miles outside the city, so no one was killed or injured. It was a potentially deadly accident, though, and we are very lucky no one was hurt. The fire burned for days.
Brave men and women from the Galena Fire Department were the first on the scene. Like many fire departments throughout the U.S., the Galena Fire Department is an entirely volunteer force. The area where the crash occurred is in a wetland where the Galena River meets the Mississippi. The first responders had to use a bike path to get to the crash site. I want to thank Galena Fire Chief Randy Beadle for his leadership in tackling this disaster. Galena Assistant Fire Chief Bob Conley also helped coordinate the first response. While most people would run away from something like this, firefighters run toward the flames. We owe a debt of gratitude to them.
I spoke with Galena Mayor Terry Renner the evening of the crash. I let him know I was ready to help in any way I could. Others on the ground whose efforts were critical to the local response include: Galena City Administrator Mark Moran, Jo Daviess County Board Chairman Ron Smith, County Administrator Dan Reimer, County Sheriff Kevin Turner, and County Emergency Management Agency Director Chuck Pedersen.
First responders were not sure if the oil from the derailed train cars might make its way to the Mississippi River--just half a mile away. To be on the safe side, BNSF erected a berm in the river to catch any runoff, either from the train cars themselves or from runoff from firefighters' hoses. Now the cleanup really begins. The EPA will vacuum up the spilled oil from the ground and test the soil below for contamination. Even if the oil did not reach the Mississippi, this was too close a call.
These types of accidents are happening more frequently and the potential for catastrophe is great. This is not the first time Illinois has seen such a derailment. In 2009, one person was killed in Cherry Valley; and in 2011, 800 residents of Tiskilway were evacuated after a massive explosion. The National Transportation Safety Board found the weakness of these cars added to the severity of both explosions.
Recently we have seen these dangerous derailments across the country and in Canada. It happened in West Virginia last month, and another yet this weekend in Ontario, Canada. Of course, the most severe incident occurred in Quebec in 2013, when a train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded, killing 47 people.
I urge the administration to act swiftly to finalize rules that increase safety standards for the train cars. We need to ensure these cars have the strongest safety measures and that the old tank cars are taken off the track. Booming oil production in the Bakken region has caused an exponential increase in crude oil shipments in recent years. Last year, railroads carried almost 650,000 carloads of oil. In 2008 they carried just 9,500 carloads. Not only are the quantities greater, but some of this crude oil is believed to be more volatile. More traffic and more volatile crude means more disasters. Improving freight rail safety is more critical than ever before.
We feel this impact in Illinois, where we have the second most railroad track in the country. Approximately 25 percent of all U.S. rail traffic passes through densely populated Chicago.
We are lucky that the fiery train derailment in Galena was not closer to homes, businesses, and schools. Trains just like the one that crashed travel through cities and suburbs on a daily basis. If a wreck like this one happens closer to a developed area, we might see thousands of people evacuated--not to mention the potential for injuries or fatalities. It is not a risk we should be willing to take.
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