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The “Bridge over Troubled Oil” rally is organized by The Coalition to Ban Unsafe Oil Trains and runs from 2–3:30 p.m. at the bridge on E. Main Street, between Elm and Palisade avenues. People will gather on the bridge sidewalk over the CSX tracks.
The goal is to heighten awareness about on unsafe trains carrying combustible Bakken crude oil through the communities—under bridges, over reservoirs, and through densely populated towns.
Learn what can be done to make communities safer and cleaner. Speakers to include local and state elected officials, as well as community members who are impacted by oil train traffic, noise, emissions and risks. Bring signs and bring friends; all are welcome.
The Coalition to Ban Unsafe Oil Trains is a grassroots movement that originated in Bergen County and calls for the immediate ban of unsafe transportation of crude oil in local communities.
In Bergen County, CSX trains carrying Bakken crude oil pass through Northvale, Norwood, Harrington Park, Closter, Haworth, Dumont, Bergenfield, Teaneck, Bogota, Ridgefield Park, and Ridgefield every week.
These trains are sometimes more than 120 cars long and also pass over the Oradell Reservoir, a source of drinking water for 800,000 people, the coalition says.
What makes the rail transportation of crude oil unsafe?
- Bakken Crude oil is a highly-volatile liquid which can ignite (and has ignited) in massive explosions and fires, has contaminated water supplies, and threatened lives, health, property, land, and ecosystems.
- Many of the trains use inadequate tanker cars that are extremely prone to puncture in a derailment.
- Lack of transparency on train routes, total crude oil volume, and the content of rail tankers keeps both the public and first responders in the dark as to the extent of the danger and the ability to effectively respond to an emergency.
- Rail transport of Bakken crude has grown more than 4,000 percent over the last five years.
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