Minority, Low-Income Communities Bear Risk From Oil Trains In California

[KamaAina]

Try to contain your shock.

http://www.itakelibertywithmycoffee.com/2015/07/minority-low-income-communities-bear-disproportionate-share-of-risk-from-oil-trains-in-california/

People of color and low-income communities are bearing a disproportionate burden of risk from dangerous oil trains rolling through California, according to a new report by ForestEthics and Communities for a Better Environment.

Called "Crude Injustice On The Rails," the report found that 80 percent of the 5.5 million Californians with homes in the oil train blast zone - the one-mile region around train tracks that would need to be evacuated in the event of an oil train derailment, explosion and fire - live in communities with predominantly minority, low-income or non-English speaking households.

Nine of California's 10 largest cities that have oil train routes running through them have an even higher rate of "discriminatory impact," the authors of the report found. In those cities, 82–100 percent of people living in the blast zone are in what they call "environmental justice communities."

"In California you are 33 percent more likely to live in the blast zone if you live in a nonwhite, low income, or non-English speaking household," Matt Krogh, ForestEthics extreme oil campaign director and one of the authors of the report, said in a statement.

[chapdrum]

1. Boy it's hard to contain the shock

You're right.
Here's a peripheral factoid: Those in or near the blast zone do not perish from fire
in the explosion. Since this is not the light, sweet crude (oil) of yore, the high-sulfur tar
sands crude contains far more toxic and volatile chemical compounds, so...the blast
removes all of the oxygen from the area, and within 1-5 seconds, the lungs are collapsed.
In Lac-Megantic (Quebec), many of those who died in the explosion there could be
identified only by DNA sampling.

[chapdrum]

2. P.S. to previous

The org cited in the last paragraph (ForestEthics) has a website with an interactive map, if you want to see if you're in or near a blast zone.
P.P.S. I have several friends who are not low income nor minority, but are nonetheless in or near a blast zone.
Finally, an industry that doesn't discriminate.

[petronius]

3. I'm trying to make my surprised face, but for some reason it's just not working

I guess my facial-expression-making muscles have a minimum standard of integrity after all...

Looking at their interactive map, it appears I both live and work (and therefore spend ~90%+ of my day) squarely in the red strip. Luckily, our tracks don't seem that active these days, but I understand there are plans to increase our oil traffic...