This photo shows crews at the scene of a CP train derailment that spilled thousands of gallons of crude oil near Parkers Prairie in western Minnesota - 27 Mar 2013 Photographer unknown - Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

27 March 2013

CP Rail Train Derails and Spills Up to 113,000 Litres of Crude Oil in Minnesota

Parkers Prairie Minnesota USA - A Canadian Pacific Railway train hauling crude oil has derailed in western Minnesota, spilling up to 30,000 gallons (113,000 litres) of oil, Minnesota officials said on Wednesday.
 
The Otter Tail Sheriff's Department said 14 cars of the 94-car train derailed near Parkers Prairie on Wednesday morning, while officials at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said between 20,000 and 30,000 gallons (76,000 to 113,000 litres) of crude oil had leaked into a nearby ditch and field.
 
"It is still leaking right now," Dan Olson, a spokesman for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said.
 
Olson said three cars were leaking crude, with one having spilled most of its 26,000-gallon load. Two others have tipped over and are leaking. He said he didn't expect the spill to threaten local waterways as the ground at Parkers Prairie, north west of Minneapolis, is frozen.
 
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd said only one car was spilling crude. Railroad spokesman Ed Greenberg said a clean-up operation is underway and the company is investigating the incident.
 
Two workers for the U.S. rail regulator are investigating the derailment, an agency spokesman said.
 
"FRA investigators are on the scene investigating the cause of the accident," said Mike England, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration, a division of the Department of Transportation.
 
Moving oil by rail in Canada and the United States has increased rapidly in the last two years as domestic crude production has grown faster than pipeline capacity.
 
Environmental concerns have delayed the production of pipelines like Trans-Canada Corporation's Keystone XL, but some experts have argued moving crude by rail poses a larger risk of accidents and spills.
 
The Otter Tail Sheriff's Department said the train was approximately 5,700 feet in length, or 1.7 kilometres long. At 26,000 gallons per car, the train could have been hauling up to 2.4 million gallons of crude, according to Reuters calculations.
 
Author unknown.

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