Make oil cargo safer

There have been numerous reports about the dangers of shipping Bakken oil. Your recent article on Feb. 20 did not mention the fact that one of the major problems with Bakken oil is that the North Dakota oil producers do not “off-gas” the crude oil before shipping. Therefore the Bakken oil ships with extremely volatile and dangerous gases intact. These volatile gases are what makes Bakken oil so dangerous during shipment.

It costs money to “de-gas” the crude oil prior to shipping and oil producers don’t want to spend the money to make their oil safer to transport. The North Dakota legislature will not pass any laws requiring the “de-gassing” of Bakken oil, therefore the rest of the country has to suffer the consequences.

Washington state needs to ban the transport of Bakken oil across our state until the oil producers start becoming responsible business owners and produce a safer product for shipping. De-gassing is routinely done elsewhere (Texas oilfields), why can’t North Dakota do the same?

Patrick Brown

Spokane