In 2014, Terry Wechsler, an environmental attorney in northwest Washington, summed up why there hadn’t been opposition to the initial oil-by-rail terminals on the west coast, telling Reuters, “There was no opposition to the other three proposals only because we weren’t aware they were in formal permitting.”

But now the public knows. And despite public relations efforts by regulators and industry lobbyists, the public also knows that the crude oil “bomb trains” still pose a huge risk to communities along the rail lines.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently released its Top 10 Most Wanted List for 2016, and the list included addressing oil train risks. The Washington Post reported NTSB chairman Christopher Hart’s concerns regarding oil trains.

“We’ve been lucky thus far that derailments involving flammable liquids in America have not yet occurred in a populated area,” Hart said. “But an American version of Lac-Mégantic could happen at any time. Instead of happening out in the middle of a wheat field it could happen in the middle of a big city.”

Nearly three years after Lac-Megantic, the head of the NTSB is saying an accident like that could happen at “any time” in a major American city.

So it is no wonder that efforts to stop new oil-by-rail infrastructure and shut down existing transportation of crude by rail are spreading across the country.

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