Emergency personnel examine the wreckage of a train derailment near Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, February 13, 2014. The 120-car Norfolk Southern Corp train carrying heavy Canadian crude oil derailed and spilled in western Pennsylvania. In Lynchburg, Virginia, on April 30, a train carrying crude oil derailed , and some of the rail cars exploded into a ball of fire, and then fell into the James River. This was not an isolated incident. A number of explosive train derailments, including the tragedy in Lac-Megantic, Quebec , which killed 44 people, have raised the alarm about the safety of shipping oil by rail. The oil now gushing from the Bakken Shale in North Dakota and the Alberta Tar Sands has overwhelmed pipeline capacity, and millions of gallons now ride the rails, often in older tanker cars vulnerable to rupture. Increased alarm and public pressure have now pushed Canada to act. New rules announced […]