Political Quotes

“on December 30, 2013, outside of Casselton, ND, a train carrying crude oil derailed setting off a series of explosions and fire. The first on the scene that day were our local first responders from the Casselton Fire Department, a small volunteer department. Whether floods, tornados, accidents, or man-made incidents, our local first responders are on the front line and we need to make sure they are trained and prepared to handle anything that may come their way and that they have the equipment necessary to do their jobs effectively and efficiently. The incident in Casselton and others across the country have shined a bright light on the need to make sure our local first responders are prepared specifically for emerging threats and hazards. Only a few short years ago, trains carried very little crude. And when crude was carried by rail, it was in relatively small amounts mixed in with a variety of other commodities and container shipments. Since that time, our country has experienced impressive economic growth in the oil industry, but with that important growth we have seen an exponential increase in shipments of crude by rail. According to the Association of American Railroads, the number of carloads carrying crude oil on major freight railroads in the U.S. grew by more than 6,000 percent between 2008 and 2013. Now, we are seeing entire trains of linked tanker cars carrying more than half a million barrels of crude to market.…”