Check out this New York Times Op-Doc, drawn from filmmaker Jon Bowermaster’s new The Hudson: River at Risk series, coming in 2016.
The boom in crude oil from the fracked lands of North and South Dakota has been accompanied by a boom in rail cars filled with a highly explosive gas-and-oil mix. You’ve probably seen the long trains of black cylindrical cars racing through your neighborhood – past office buildings, schools and hospitals.
You’ve also seen the horrific images from across North America when these “bomb trains” derail, leaking, exploding and catching fire. Given the growing numbers of these trains – there were 9,000 cars in 2009 and more than 500,000 today – it’s just a matter of time before one goes off the rails in your backyard.