Canadian Pacific train derails in Wisconsin, dumping crude oil

A Canadian Pacific train carrying crude oil derailed Sunday afternoon in Watertown, Wisconsin, dumping crude oil in the area.

The Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel reported Sunday that 10 cars left the train track around 2 p.m. Mountain Time. No injuries or fires were reported, but authorities evacuated the area.

“We have mobilized teams to the site, and are in touch with local emergency responders to coordinate a response, CP spokesman Jeremy Berry told the Journal Sentinel.

The train derailment was the second this weekend after 25 cars left the tracks in the western part of the state, spilling thousands of gallons of ethanol.

The train accidents throw into sharp relief the problems facing communities where so-called “bomb trains” loaded with crude oil roll through.

It’s possible following U.S. President Obama Barack’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline – that would have carried crude oil from the Alberta tar sands to the American Midwest and Gulf Coast – that more oil trains will be deployed.

Whether or not tar sands crude moves via rail will depend on if it’s economically viable as it’s more expensive to transport oil on trains than through pipelines.

Trains transporting crude oil from the Alberta tar sands or fracked Bakken shale crude from North Dakota have become known as “bomb trains” because of the flammable, volatile cargo they transport. In 2015, five separate oil trains left the tracks, resulting in explosions.

Oil trains still travel unchecked through highly populated areas of Canada and the U.S.

In 2014, an average of 450,000 barrels of oil per day was delivered by rail to the east coast, of which 80 per cent of the crude was the highly flammable Bakken shale oil, the same crude that the Lac Megantic freight train carried when it derailed in the Quebec town in 2013, killing 47 people.

A $446-million settlement for victims of the Lac Megantic disaster received approval in October, 2015. Although CP owned the track on which the crude shipment originated, the company said it wasn’t responsible since the train which derailed had a Montreal, Maine and Atlantic locomotive and was operating on MMA rail, according to a Canadian Press story.