Speed up rail safety

I’m very concerned about the dangerous railroad tanker cars traveling through our towns every day carrying explosive Bakken crude oil. These same cars derailed in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, two years ago, killing 47 people with fires. They are literally like bombs. Our Department of Transportation is allowing these same cars to carry crude oil for another three years through my small town and others in the Northwest.

We seem to be naively waiting for another tragedy. The toothless federal safety requirements for trains hauling this oil allow railroads to use retrofit tank cars without thicker shells to reduce punctures and leaks. They reduce speed limits only in urban areas. Apparently, no one else along the routes of these trains matters.

Human lives rank above railroad profits. The DOT has given railroads generous timelines for upgrading these hazardous cars, and still the railroads sue for more time. It’s obvious neither the railroad industry nor the DOT will take steps to protect human life, our drinking water and our environment. Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell’s Crude-By-Rail Safety Act of 2015 takes 37,000 unsafe cars off the rails immediately. I hope Idaho’s senators back this bill.

Carol Wilburn

Sandpoint