Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Freight trains would transport the inflammable liquid through Somerville and other communities. State Rep. Denise Provost talks about the issue on SCATV at 7:30 p.m.
State Rep. Denise Provost will be on SCATV's "Greater Somerville" Tuesday night to discuss a proposal to transport ethanol on trains through Somerville and neightboring communities to a facility in Revere. Opponents of the proposal have argued the trains could pose a danger. Here's a description of Tuesday's episode, courtesy of "Greater Somerville": Tonight on Greater Somerville, Representative Denise Provost speaks with host Joe Lynch about the proposal to allow the train transport of ethanol through our city and neighboring communities. The highly flammable liquid currently is transported from the mid-west to Rhode Island, loaded onto barges, shipped up the Massachusetts coast, through Boston Harbor and offloaded at the Revere …
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is studying public safety in regard to freight trains carrying ethanol but has little control over the trains themselves.
Some Somerville residents fear what happened in Columbus, Ohio, could also happen here. In Columbus, a freight train carrying ethanol derailed and exploded in July of 2012, causing authorities to evacuate a mile-wide area around the blast. One Columbus resident said it "looked like the sun exploded." "The fireball was visible from like 10 miles away," said Somerville Ethan Contini-Field, who heard about the explosion from friends who lived in the Columbus area. People a quarter of a mile away "singed" their eyelashes, he said. What's more, putting out flames from an ethanol explosion requires a special type of alcohol-resistant foam, which is, itself, environmentally hazardous. Besides, fire departments in the Somerville area don't …
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Dr. Albert F. Argenziano School at Lincoln Park
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Monday, March 11, 2013
The trains could bring 1.8 million gallons worth of ethanol through Somerville's borders twice a week.
Somerville is hosting a pubilc meeting on ethanol trains Monday. The meeting, organized by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, will provide information about plans to ship ethanol on trains—dubbed "bomb trains" by some activists—through Somerville, Cambridge, Boston, Chelsea, Everett and other communities on their way to the Global Oil terminal in Revere. Ethanol is used as a fuel additive in gasoline. The Somerville Board of Aldermen has opposed the trains, which could bring 1.8 million gallons of ethanol twice a week along Commuter Rail lines past dense neighborhoods in the city. Members of the Board of Aldermen and activists elsewhere have argued the trains are dangerous. Other communities have also opposed the trains. The …
42.379367
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Dr. Albert F. Argenziano School at Lincoln Park
290 Washington St, Somerville, MA
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Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Dubbed "bomb trains" by some activists, the ethanol freight trains could roll through the heart of Somerville twice a week, each time with 1.8 million gallons of the volatile liquid on board.
Trains that would each carry about 1.8 million gallons of ethanol and might travel through the heart of Somerville at least twice a week are the subject of a study by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. MassDOT is holding a meeting about the trains, dubbed "bomb trains" by some activists, Wednesday night in East Boston. The trains would deliver about 187 million gallons of ethanol, a volatile and inflammable alcohol used as an additive to gasoline, each year to the Global Oil terminal in Revere. In doing so, the trains would travel through about 25 Massachusetts cities and towns, including Somerville, Cambridge, Boston, Chelsea and Everett. Somerville has joined Chelsea, Revere and other communities in opposing the ethanol …
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robert g
7:39 pm on Wednesday, February 6, 2013
By federal law trains have the right of way. If the town doesn't like it they should move. The town has no choice. Of course it can always go by truck through the town. more ›