{"id":12290,"date":"2015-02-17T00:11:21","date_gmt":"2015-02-17T05:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=12290"},"modified":"2015-02-17T00:13:37","modified_gmt":"2015-02-17T05:13:37","slug":"charges-and-findings-for-quebec-oil-train-explosion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2015\/02\/charges-and-findings-for-quebec-oil-train-explosion.html","title":{"rendered":"Charges and findings for Quebec oil train explosion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nLow-level employees taking the fall for railroad company executives,\r\nthat’s what we can see in the future of yesterday’s\r\nWest Virginia oil train explosion<\/a>\r\nby looking at one in Quebec in 2013.\r\nCan we expect any different behavior from fracked methane pipeline executives?\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nRoger Annis, Truthout, 23 June 2014,\r\n\r\nWhat Happened in Last Summer’s Oil Train Disaster in Quebec That Killed 47<\/a>,\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\n

\r\nDetails of the events leading to last July’s oil train disaster in\r\nLac Megantic, Quebec, have been made public for the first time.\r\nThey reinforce an existing portrait of the accident as a perfect\r\nstorm of corporate malfeasance.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nInsufficient handbrakes applied, instead\r\na locomotive was left idling overnight while spewing lubricating oil.\r\nIt caught fire; local firefighters shut it down; the insufficient air brakes\r\nleaked down, the train rolled seven miles, blew up, and killed 47 people.\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\nThe MMA and three of its employees—engineer Thomas Harding,\r\nrail-traffic controller Richard Labrie and train-operations manager\r\nJean Dema\u00eetre—are charged with 47 counts of criminal\r\nnegligence causing death. They made a brief court appearance on May\r\n13 and were released on bail. The trial resumes on Sept 11.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nBut were those three people the real cause?\r\nNo.\r\n

\r\nRob Holmes, World Magazine, 21 August 2015,\r\n\r\nReport on Quebec train disaster downplays main cause<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\nA year after a runaway oil train exploded near the Maine border with\r\nQuebec, the investigation report released this week cited 18\r\ncontributing factors. But amid conclusions for mitigating safety and\r\nhuman risks, the report downplayed the obvious: An engine fire in a\r\nparked train led to an air-brake failure, setting the train on an\r\nunmanned 7-mile journey and leading to the death of 47 people in\r\nLac-Megantic.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nThe engine fire may have been the proximate cause, but it wasn’t the main cause.\r\n

\r\n

\r\nSix million liters of light crude oil spilled and ignited downtown\r\nLac-Megantic, leveling 40 buildings and pouring oil into the lake\r\nand nearby Chaudi\u00e8re River. It marked the end of the line for a\r\ntrain that had already transited seven major U.S. and Canadian\r\ncities, including Minneapolis, Chicago, and Montreal.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“Accidents never come down to a single individual, a single\r\naction, or a single factor,” said Wendy Tadros, head of\r\nCanada’s Transportation and Safety Board (TSB). “You have to\r\nlook at the whole context.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nBut the TSB report placed much blame on the train’s owner, Montreal,\r\nMaine & Atlantic Railways, which went bankrupt after the disaster.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nSome more corporate executives pull the ripcord and float away\r\nwhile their company crashes and burns, leaving local and national taxpayers\r\nto pick up the tab.\r\n

\r\n

\r\nIt [the report] claimed the most glaring factors were the rail company’s cutting\r\ncorners in regard to safety, along with the Canadian government’s\r\nfailure to conduct safety audits of rail transporters.\r\ndid not provide effective training to ensure crews understood and\r\ncorrectly applied rules governing train securement,” the\r\nreport concluded.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nA TSB press release on the accident contended there is a need for\r\n“additional physical defenses to prevent runaway trains, and\r\nfor more thorough audits of safety management systems.” In\r\nbureaucratic fashion, it linked the tragedy to “systemic\r\nproblems” and detailed how light crude oil may ignite at a\r\nlower temperature than heavy crude.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nOnly a month after the 2013 disaster, the U.S. Federal Railroad\r\nAdministration reacted to the incident by ordering new rules for\r\nsecuring unmanned parked trains as well as issuing non-binding\r\nadvisories for oil transporters in the United States. The U.S.\r\nDepartment of Transportation then echoed the Canadian TSB report by\r\nalerting transporters to the potential high volatility of crude from\r\nNorth Dakota’s Bakken fields and Canadian oil sands.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nThe most glaring factor is the continued increase in oil and gas\r\nproduction and shipping when there’s no increased energy need,\r\nand we already know how to shift entirely to sun, wind, and water power.\r\n

\r\n

\r\nJohn Giles, CEO of Central Maine and Quebec Railway, which acquired\r\nthe assets of Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Canada, said his first\r\nmove after taking over the railroad in May was to cease operations\r\nfor two days to talk about safety with the company’s U.S. and\r\nCanadian employees.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nGiles said his safety improvements include eliminating one-man\r\ncrews, hiring a senior superintendent for Canadian operations, and\r\nretiring old locomotives. The company is budgeting $8.5 million to\r\noverhaul track and will delay further crude oil shipments until\r\n2016.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nHow about delay them forever?\r\n

\r\nMeanwhile, what’s the status of that court case?\r\n

\r\nMontreal Gazette, 15 january 2015,\r\n\r\nNew date for preliminary hearing for Lac-Megantic accused to be set in March<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\nThree railway employees charged in the Lac-Megantic train disaster\r\nwill be back in court in March to have a date set for a preliminary\r\nhearing.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nOf the three accused, only train engineer Tom Harding appeared in\r\ncourt in person Thurday as the date was set.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nHarding, railway traffic controller Richard Labrie and Jean\r\nDemaitre, the manager of train operations, each face 47 counts of\r\ncriminal negligence causing death — one for each victim of the\r\nJuly 2013 oil-train derailment in the Quebec town.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nA conviction carries a maximum life sentence.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nWait a minute: where’s the CFO who cut corners until there was only\r\na skeleton crew and a leaky locomotive?\r\nWhere’s the CEO who’s supposed to be in charge of the whole company?\r\nOr the Chairman of the Board?\r\n

\r\nPeter Rakobowchuk, The Globe and Mail, 11 September 2014,\r\n\r\nNo more charges coming in case of Lac-Megantic rail disaster, Crown says<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nThe Crown is ruling out further charges in the Lac-Megantic train\r\ndisaster, a statement that appears to leave U.S. rail executive Ed\r\nBurkhardt off the hook.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nFollowing a brief hearing in Lac-Megantic on Thursday, a spokesman\r\nfor Quebec’s office of criminal and penal prosecutions suggested it\r\nwasn’t expecting to charge anyone else in the case.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nAsked in particular about Burkhardt, a spokesman for the office\r\nrepeated no other charges were expected.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“With all the information and with all the evidence that we\r\nanalyzed, there won’t be any new charge against anyone,”\r\nJean-Pascal Boucher said.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nBeing Chairman means you never get charged.\r\n

\r\nThat right there is the main cause.\r\n

\r\nInstead of taking responsibility, Burkhardt passed the buck\r\nto the railroad engineer who left the leaky locomotive running;\r\nthe same engineer now on trial for charges that could result\r\nin life imprisonment.\r\n

\r\nJohn Baldoni, Rorbes, 15 July 2013,\r\n\r\nHow Edward Burkhardt Is Making The Lac Megantic Accident Even Worse<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\nMr. Burkhardt’s first comments on the accident pointed the finger at\r\nthose he thought might be responsible. As reported in the New York\r\nTimes, Burkhardt blamed “’tampering’ with the train’s\r\nlocomotives”, then he shifted focus to the volunteer\r\nfirefighters who helped extinguish the massive blaze. Later at a\r\npress conference in Lac Megantic, where local residents booed him,\r\nBurkhardt fingered a railroad engineer whom he asserted had not set\r\nthe brakes properly.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nWendy Gillis, Toronto Star, 8 September 2013,\r\n\r\nIs Tom Harding a villain or victim?<\/a>\r\nHow about scapegoat, fall guy, man missing megabucks necessary to\r\nnot get charged with anything.\r\n

\r\nDoes anybody think the behavior of fracked methane pipeline executives\r\nwould be any different from these railroad executives?\r\nHow about we get on with solar power and stop fracking oil and gas.\r\n

\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Low-level employees taking the fall for railroad company executives, that’s what we can see in the future of yesterday’s West Virginia oil train explosion by looking at one in Quebec in 2013. Can we expect any different behavior from fracked methane pipeline executives? Roger Annis, Truthout, 23 June 2014, What Happened in Last Summer’s Oil […]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6124,559,6687],"tags":[862,8254,8701,8250,8702,12,7,8252,562,8782,6076,8251,6597,6966,8253,6],"class_list":["post-12290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-natural-gas-2","category-oil","category-pipeline-2","tag-canada","tag-ed-burkhardt","tag-georgia","tag-lac-megantic","tag-lake","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-montreal-maine-atlantic-railways","tag-natural-gas","tag-oil","tag-pipeline","tag-quebec","tag-sabal-trail-transmission","tag-spectra-energy","tag-thomas-harding","tag-valdosta"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-3ce","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12290"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12293,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12290\/revisions\/12293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}