crude oil trains

“Most of my district is within one mile of the tracks that crude oil has been transported on. I don’t want any more crude oil tank cars putting the neighborhoods in my district at risk.”

One year ago today, I was woken up by texts letting me know that a train had derailed in downtown Baltimore and asking me if I knew what was going on.  I had been working to fight crude oil trains for almost two years then, so I knew what might have happened if the train cars that had derailed had carried crude oil: an explosion and fire that would have killed community residents in their homes, damaged the campuses of the University of Baltimore and the Maryland Institute College of Art, and changed the face of Baltimore.  Fortunately, the cars carried liquified petroleum gas vapors and ac

For over a century, Baltimore has been a hub for dirty energy sources and other industry that has put our environment and our communities in danger.   From coal-burning power plants and the BRESCO trash incinerator to crude oil train terminals and the coal export facility in South Baltimore, dirty energy has made Baltimore fail to meet health-based air quality standards, displaced residents, all while failing to supply enough jobs to keep Baltimore's economy strong.  But in the next tw

For over a century, Baltimore has been a hub for dirty energy sources and other industry that has put our environment and our communities in danger.   From coal-burning power plants and the BRESCO trash incinerator to crude oil train terminals and the coal export facility in South Baltimore, dirty energy has made Baltimore fail to meet health-based air quality standards, displaced residents, all while failing to supply enough jobs to keep Baltimore's economy strong.  The city has long

Last week, a freight train on its way to the Port of Baltimore derailed in Ijamsville, a small town in Frederick County.  Fortunately, although the train was carrying hazardous materials, none of the eight cars that derailed were punctured, and other than disruption to other freight shipments through Maryland, there were no impacts.  Read more about the derailment and see pictures in the Frederick News-Post.

"I don't want to be sitting here when something happens and we didn't do everything we could possibly do to prevent it."