Hazardous Materials

Paradise is the largest incorporated city west of the Mississippi River lacking a public sewer system. The town of of 27,000 relies on septic systems, now potentially damaged. Without sewers, multi-family housing construction becomes more difficult.

December 20, 2018 - San Francisco Chronicle

An estimated 35,000 gallons of crude spilled from four of 22 toppled tank cars of a 106-car oil train near Culbertson in northeast Montana on July 16. Unlike other oil train derailments, no fiery explosions occurred.

July 21, 2015 - Common Dreams

A May 1 Federal Railroad Administration rule on moving crude by rail was supposed to make routing information more accessible to the the public, but due to lobbying by the rail industry, it will do just the opposite.

June 27, 2015 - McClatchy Washington Bureau

Safety would win hands down for passenger rail, but for-profit railroads have a bottom line to consider. Regulators have proposed reduced train speeds, opposed by railroads, to prevent fiery derailments that have resulted from shipping shale oil.

October 18, 2014 - The Gazette

Notwithstanding an emergency order DOT issued on May 7 that railroads must provide cities oil train information, secrecy continues to cloak the transport of hazardous oil shipments leaving first responders ill-prepared to handle fiery explosions.

May 24, 2014 - The Wall Street Journal

In what is being billed as the first emergency order of more to come, the Department of Transportation (DOT), the federal regulator of transporting crude oil by rail, hopes to quell the growing national furor over what some call 'ticking time bombs'.

May 9, 2014 - The Tribune

The full declaration on CBR by DOT regulators was “an imminent hazard to public health and safety and the environment." An immediate safety order was issued requiring vigorous testing of crude and prohibition of use of some tanker cars.

February 27, 2014 - The Wall Street Journal - U.S.

The coal ash spill, 82,000 tons as of Feb. 8 after being detected on Feb. 2, comes from a pond adjacent to a closed, coal-burning Duke Energy power plant. It is said not to pose a threat to drinking water, though the river has turned black and grey.

February 8, 2014 - The Wall Street Journal - U.S.

The U.S. Green Building Council's LEED building rating system has helped grow the ranks of green buildings, but some say it ignores the human health impact of those buildings.

August 17, 2010 - Yale Environment 360