The week of February 16 was a banner week for oil catastrophes — oil train derailments in West Virginia and Ontario, Canada, and a refinery explosion south of Los Angeles.
In Ontario, a train carrying Alberta tar sands crude derailed and exploded. In West Virginia, a train carrying light, volatile crude from the huge Bakken oil fields in North Dakota, derailed in the town of Mt. Carbon. At least 15 cars were set on fire, and at least one house burned down. It took five days to put the fires out, forcing an evacuation of many homes, and potentially contaminating a river used for drinking water.
Why are there so many derailments?  Authorities point to tanker cars inadequate for volatiles and vulnerable to puncture, limited maintenance of track, and excessive speed as risk factors. But the Ontario train was using newer, “improved” cars, was traveling below the speed limit, and on tracks that had been inspected two days before. We can only expect more derailments. Not only because tanker cars are unsafe, but the number of oil trains in North American has increased by 4,000 percent in the last five years. They are running all over the U.S., through heavily populated communities next to backyards and schools.
Bakken crude is light, volatile and highly flammable and explosive. Derailments are characterized by explosions sending huge balls of fire high into the sky, one car igniting another in a chain reaction. Since oil trains are often a mile or more long, and each car carries about 30,000 gallons, they have the potential to spread fiery explosions over large areas.
Spills And Leaks Common
Tar sands derailments can also result in explosion, but spills, leaks and derailments are hazardous in additional ways. The crude must be transported heated and under high pressure, because it is so thick and viscous. It also has acidic components. These three factors make it corrosive, leading to frequent leaks and spills. High pressure leaks can spew out geysers, releasing thousands of gallons in minutes.
TransCanada, owner of the Keystone XL pipeline, had a dozen spills in its first pipeline in less than a year of operation (foe.org). Tar sands spills into water create monumental cleanup tasks, as the heavy crude sinks to the bottom in both fresh and salt water. A pipeline rupture in Michigan in 2010 spilled over a million gallons into the the Kalamazoo River, leading to the most expensive oil pipeline cleanup in U.S. history. As of 2013, more than $1 billion had been spent, but 40 miles of the river were still contaminated.
Tar sands are too thick to transport through pipelines or on and off tanker cars without dilution and heating. The diluent is a mixture of light weight, volatile hydrocarbons, including benzene, which is associated with leukemia. When a spill or leak occurs, these volatiles are released into the air. Leaks occur at all phases of transport, transfer onto and off of trains, and through refining. When the oil is heated, its high level of sulfur causes emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, both associated with smog. Sulfur dioxide can also cause or aggravate heart and lung problems.
Tar sands are hazardous at all phases from mining to refining. Many studies have shown elevated levels of cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory problems near mines and refineries. And communities near refineries are usually of poor people of color. Communities living near a spill are also at risk. After the Kalamazoo spill, the Michigan Department of Public Health determined that 320 people suffered adverse health effects, including cardiovascular, dermal, gastrointestinal, neurological, ocular, renal, and respiratory impacts.
Pipeline spills are increasingly common. In January, there were at least four major pipeline incidents nationwide, including a gas pipeline explosion in West Virginia; a pipeline spill that saw up to 50,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into the Yellowstone River, and a gas pipeline explosion in Mississippi.
And these mishaps are the ones we hear about. North Dakota seems to have spills on an ongoing basis.  An Associated Press investigation in 2013 revealed nearly 300 oil pipeline spills in ND that occurred over a two-year period and were not disclosed to the public.
The path forward
The week of the triple oil disasters was an example of the extreme weather associated with climate change, with temperatures near zero in the eastern third of the country. The corporate media rarely connects climate change and fossil fuel disasters, though they are closely related. Burning fossil fuels, and a society making almost no efforts toward a sustainable energy path, are the main causes of climate change. How many disasters and extremes of climate will it take to connect the dots, much less change our path?  And even if the media and misleaders do connect them, politicians beholden to the fuel giants, like the Koch brothers, are not going to make the change. Oil billionaires fund “research” and candidates who spread the absurdities that climate change is not caused by human activity, or that fossil fuel emissions are not harmful.
The enormous stores of oil and gas from the Bakken fields should be used in moderation, as the U.S. marches on a path to sustainable energy. And there is only one good place for tar sands oil:  in the ground. Climate scientists have said that if that oil is burned, it is game over for climate change. This eventuality makes the recent rash of catastrophes only Act I in a much larger, global disaster.
The fact is, capitalists must maximize profits in the short run — that’s competition. Such a system can never step back and make the huge investments needed to safely change over to other forms of energy. There will be no end to climate change or the dangers of oil production and transport until we get rid of this system altogether. We must replace it with communism, a system in the interest and safety of the working class.