Citizen scientists documenting hazardous materials shipments on American railroads

Abstract

Economic development is powered by access to energy and industrial chemical inputs. Many of these energy forms and chemicals are harmful to human health and the environment. North American sourced petroleum crude oil has grown in volume in the past decade. Transporting this oil from its sources to refineries and export markets requires railroads. Unfortunately, there have been serious accidents involving the transportation of oil and some have questioned the conventional risk analysis used to permit its shipment by rail. At the same time climate change is being fueled by the use of hydrocarbons. A group of concerned citizens, skeptical of official information channels, began monitoring railroad rights-of-way for hazardous materials and recorded their findings. Railroad shipping data are otherwise unavailable to the general public. While energy related chemicals such as petroleum crude oil, alcohol, and butane constitute most of the observed shipments, a great deal of miscellaneous hazardous materials are present as well. Many of these hazardous materials are distributed through densely populated urban areas and ecologically sensitive places. The results of these observations are presented in this paper, followed by a discussion of the present situation and view toward future trends.