President Obama claimed that stopping Keystone, and all the jobs that came with it, was about America maintaining its place as a climate leader in the war on global warming. This was music to the ears of wealthy, coastal liberals, but cold comfort to those Americans most affected by the Obama economy- underemployed or unemployed workers and those looking forward to the budget relief lower energy prices would have offered. But forget them, right? We’re talking about Mother Earth here. Gaia. Passing on Keystone made her safe, right?!
Er, about that:
On Saturday, we noted with great irony, that just a day after Obama – with great pomp and even more preaching – killed the Keystone XL pipeline, that a freight train with 32 cards, belonging to Warren Buffett’s BNSF, had derailed north of Alma, Wisconsin prompting several road closures and a voluntary evacuation of the affected area.
Then on Sunday, barely 24 hours later, in another Wisconsin derailment incident, a train, this time with 100-car, carrying crude oil, derailed near the intersection of S. Montgomery St. and West St. in Watertown on Sunday afternoon. The Mayor said the derailment happened around 2:00 p.m. While this train did not belong to BNSF but to Canadian Pacific Railroad instead, that was hardly comforting to the people. The spokesperson said 13 cars tipped over, one of which was punctured and oil.
And then, moments ago in what we initially thought was a joke, KCRG reported that close to two dozen train cars derailed after a crash Monday morning. Lt. Brett Grimshaw of the Des Moines County Sheriff’s Office said the crash happened a little after 8 a.m. when a coal train hit a road grader that had been backed up onto the track.
Buffett is a major Obama donor who made a windfall on bailouts during the Financial Crisis. His oil transport line, BNSF, had the most to gain by Keystone being struck down. That the company can’t seem to keep its trains full of oil on the tracks seems like it would be cause for great ecological concern. If only there were a less risky method to transport oil over large distances.
If only indeed.
AAN Staff
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