Environmental activists held a forum Sunday calling for action on freight trains carrying Bakken crude oil through Bergen County
TEANECK -- Environmental activists held a forum Sunday calling for action on freight trains carrying Bakken crude oil through Bergen County, The Record reported.
Crude oil shipments by train have surged with the rapid expansion of oil coming out of the Bakken fields in North Dakota. The rise in traffic has been coupled with at least a dozen major train accidents, including a crash in Lac-Megantic, Quebec that killed 47 people.
The derailments and fires have raised questions about whether first responders in New Jersey are prepared if an oil train disaster strikes.
New Jersey New York are "ground zero" of the debate over Bakken oil trains, Scott Smith, chief scientist for Water Defense, a non-profit, said at the forum. The trains pass through several densely populated Bergen County towns on their way to refineries in New Jersey and Philadelphia. Activists also worry about trains travelling over a the Oradell Reservoir, which provides drinking water for 800,000 people.
The forum, hosted by 350NJ and the Coalition to Ban Unsafe Oil Trains, is the first of a series of events to demand action on climate change before the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11. The organizations marched in Teaneck in May calling for a ban on oil trains.
Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.