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A state of emergency was declared late yesterday in two counties in the south of West Virginia after a crude by rail train oil derailed and exploded, in what is the latest in a long string of accidents in North America.

Southern Pacific Resources was the first tar sands producer to commit all of its production to crude-by-rail. Today, the company is on the brink of disaster.

Tar sands-by-rail is a major issue in the debate on Keystone XL. In this first of a series of blogs on the issue, we look at the ongoing failures of the first tar sands unit train terminal.

Our latest report presents new analysis that confirms that shipping tar sands bitumen by rail cannot possibly meet the tar sands industry’s reckless production growth plans. The report’s conclusions demonstrate that the U.S. Department of State’s analysis of rail’s ability to replace the Keystone XL pipeline failed to consider key data and evidence and drew conclusions that are both misleading and dangerous for the American public.

The oil industry’s public relations arm, the American Petroleum Institute (API), has reached new lows in its attempts to twist the on-going debate about the safety of crude-by-rail trains in the US.

Last Sunday was a grim and painful anniversary for the people of Lac-Mégantic in Quebec. It was a year ago that a crude by rail train, which was carrying highly volatile crude from America’s Bakken fracking fields, derailed and exploded, effectively incinerating 47 people.

In contrast to claims made by Keystone XL proponents, tar sands crude is trickling into the Gulf Coast by rail.

For anyone concerned about the rising spate of crude by rail accidents across North America, the derailment and explosion last July of a crude by rail train in downtown Lac Megantic, Quebec, which killed 47 local residents, has become something of a cause célèbre.

A Plains All American pipeline spilled 10,000 gallons of oil in Los Angeles. The company is heavily subsidize and a major crude by rail company.