Why Delaware City Refinery Crude-By-Rail Brings Us The Dirtiest, Most Dangerous Type of Crude Oil

Update: 5 dead, 40 missing in Quebec oil train wreck - Similar oil delivered to Delaware City Refinery complex by rail

Diane Bailey’s Blog has the story ~ Valero's Crude by Rail Project in Benicia Could Open the Floodgates to Tar Sands in California |...switchboard.nrdc.org

Dilbit – diluted bitumen - is a word that you should add to your vocabulary because it may be coming soon by the railcar full to a refinery near you..........Several California refineries are considering or developing “Crude by Rail” projects that could bring in tar sands-based dilbit crudes.  Yesterday marked the deadline for public comments on Valero’s “Crude by Rail” proposal at its Benicia refinery, which is slated to bring in 70,000 barrels per day – or four 50 rail car trainloads each day – of “North American” Crude (See NRDC comments here).  Why are they so cagey about the specific origin and type of crude oil that they’ll import?  Experts advise us (see this report and this one) that this project is highly likely to deliver tar sands diluted with other chemicals to form dilbit, which could have staggering impacts on the community of Benicia and the entire Bay Area. 

They have gone to great lengths to make this project look benign, claiming that the refinery doesn’t need any modifications, saying the new crude will be a lot like the old crude, and that the rail project as designed wouldn’t be suitable to carry tar sands anyway.  Well, that may be partially true technically, but it’s completely misleading. 

Valero applied for a permit to make major adjustments to the refinery in 2002 - for the past 11 years, they have made modifications, including increasing coking capacity and building a new hydrogen plant that will allow it to process much dirtier crude oil.  As for their claim that they cannot move tar sands by rail without specially heated railcars and offloading equipment-- that’s true, but by adding chemicals to dilute tar sands bitumen, they create dilbit, which flows like regular oil and can be transported in regular rail tanker cars. 

Notgreenparty Delaware says ~ Too late, we already got it.

Dilbit is what we've got here in Delaware City...

• Increases Benzene and Air Toxics: The “diluent” used to make heavy bitumen or tar sands flow into and out of railcars contains highly volatile organic chemicals, including extremely toxic ones like benzene, at much higher concentrations than conventional crude oil; and is likely to be released during transport and refining.
  
  Increases Lead and Toxic Heavy Metals: The heavy bitumen component of the tar sands oil contains many toxic constituents including heavy metals such as lead at much higher concentrations than conventional crude oil and which are likely to be released during the refining process.
  
  Increases Smog and Soot: Dilbit may appear similar to lighter crude oil in some ways, but as soon as it hits a refinery, the volatile diluent comes right off as vapor leaving the dense bitumen behind. The heavy bitumen is much more energy intensive to refine than conventional crude. Due to the composition of heavier, longer chain hydrocarbons, these denser crude oils require greater use of heaters, boilers, hydro-treating and cracking and greater hydrogen use, all of which creates greater emissions of smog- and soot-forming pollutants and toxic chemicals.
  
  Creates an odor problem: Dilbit is associated with greater levels of strong odors due to its composition including a variety of sulfur containing compounds, such as mercaptans, at higher levels.
  
  Leaves More Toxic Coke Behind: Refining of heavy bitumen or tar sands leads to increased coke production, which in itself is a hazardous compound leading to storage and disposal issues including the potential for coke dust from storage piles to impact nearby residents, as has been documented near the Marathon refinery in Detroit, Michigan.
  
  Increases Risk of Accidents: Dilbit is more corrosive than conventional crude oil, increasing the risk of refinery accidents similar to the August 6, 2012 fire at Chevron Richmond, for which lower quality crude oil was found to be a contributing factor.
  
  Dilbit Spills Threaten Our Environment: Rail car spills of dilbit would be catastrophic to the fragile San Francisco Bay Delta. This is because the diluent – typically natural gas condensates acting as a solvent - helps the oil spread on surface waters. The diluent typically evaporates leaving the very heavy bitumen to sink, creating an exceptionally difficult and expensive clean-up. This was found to be the case in Kalamazoo, Michigan after a 2010 pipeline ruptured, releasing bitumen and causing well documented and widespread public health impacts and lasting contamination to this day (three years later).
  
   
  

  

  
  

Plus, this happened yesterday ~ Shocking Video Of Quebec Train Explosion: Is an American Firm to Blame?

from Tar Sands Blockade

In Lac-Mégantic, Québec, over 1,000 people were evacuated with several missing children after a train carrying over 2,000 tons of oil exploded in a sleepy Canadian town. Many residents are feared dead.

Both oil-tanker trains are owned and operated by Montreal Maine & Atlantic (MM Rail). Early reports indicate this is the second time in two years that an oil tanker derailed, spilling massive amounts of toxic oil in the picturesque village.

The train of 73 cars came off the rails just after 1am local time, and it is reported that four tanks full of petrol blew up, sending flames hundreds of feet into the air.

Fire officials said around 30 buildings had been destroyed, both by the initial blasts and by the fire that followed.

Read more about the explosion here including video: http://www.policymic.com/articles/53111/shocking-video-of-quebec-train-explosion-is-an-american-firm-to-blame

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/huge-explosions-hit-quebec-town-as-freight-train-carrying-hundreds-of-tons-of-crude-oil-derails-8692440.html

Photo from Québec Provincial Police on twitter.

• This is the potential when transporting toxic oil...why would any country want to subject their citizens to this possibility???

  
  

  Tar Sands Blockade One from the vaults:
  

  
  

  Massive Spill from Train Derailment in MN Confirmed as Carrying Toxic Tar Sands » Tar Sands Blockade

  www.tarsandsblockade.org
  

  Crews work to recover an estimated 30,000 gallons of tar sands that leaked

• ~*~