SEATTLE – Seattle city leaders claim Burlington Northern Santa Fe isn't doing enough to keep safety a priority when it comes to oil trains moving through the city. Seattle's latest push is for federal government fines from the National Transportation Safety Board.
With recent cases of oil train explosions in the United States, critics call the trains dangerous especially as they travel through highly populated areas.
City officials are voicing concern ahead of Monday's Mariners season opener at Safeco Field. Train tracks run next to the stadium and under its retractable roof.
"When we have these highly explosive oil trains coming through Seattle on a daily basis and a private corporation, BNSF, who seems uninterested in obeying the rules we have in place, that causes some serious concern for what we're doing in our city," said Seattle City Councilman Mike O'Brien.
O'Brien points to 14 BNSF incidents in the last three months that added up to 700 separate violations of state regulations about transporting hazardous material, including oil. He says, although they were not major violations, they show disregard for following rules.
O'Brien and his colleagues are also concerned about a century-old train tunnel just north of SoDo which they say is unsafe.
City officials want BNSF to do more and not have the city assume risks and costs to keep train travel safe.
"When they shift their cost, their risk to the people of Seattle so that they can profit off this exported oil, it completely distorts the market and it puts a burden on us that is not our responsibility," O'Brien said.
A spokesman for BNSF said, on average, two or three oil trains a day travel through the area. The company flat out denies the city's claims that regulations are not being followed. BNSF said safety is its top priority. It also said that, over the last three years, $10 million has been spent on the 100-year-old tunnel to with safety in mind.
O'Brien says he hopes city laws will be in place in the next few months that can help make BNSF more responsible.
