Public Forum Planned to Discuss Champlain Valley Oil Train Safety

A public forum is planned to discuss oil train safety in the eastern Adirondacks and Champlain Valley, N.Y.

The forum Thursday evening in Plattsburgh will include emergency services directors, federal spill-response officials, environmental groups, lake ecologists and advocates for healthy schools.

The risks of Bakken crude oil rail shipments from North Dakota have been highlighted by a series of recent derailments resulting in water and soil contamination, deadly explosions and fires.

An average of 44 oil trains move through New York weekly en route to coastal refineries. Canadian Pacific runs between five and nine oil trains a week from the Canadian border along Lake Champlain and the Hudson River to Albany.

The Adirondack Council is co-sponsoring Thursday’s informational forum.

AP-WF-08-26-14 0704GMT