It's shocking, but true:
More oil was spilled from trains in 2013 than the last forty years combined. There's a major accident every month, putting millions of Americans at risk. The threat of spills and explosions from Big Oil's trains is so widespread, even Glacier National Park isn't safe!
Glacier -- from its pristine lakes to unspoiled peaks teeming with wildlife -- is a national treasure. Yet every day, an enormous oil train rumbles through the park's gorgeous canyons, along rivers and lakeshores, and right through downtown Whitefish, Montana.
This threat isn't hypothetical: Oil trains have damaged wetlands in Alabama, derailed in urban Philadelphia, and caused 47 horrifying deaths in Canada. [3,4,5] Just this week, a train in Minnesota spilled oil for 70 miles before the leak was detected! [6]
Our country's railroads weren't built for oil as cargo. That's why key agencies are writing new standards -- but it's up to you to make sure those standards are strong enough.
We must stand together against oil spills in our national parks and beyond. Tell the Department of Transportation: Enact strong safety standards for oil trains now!
Follow me past the mangled North Dakota railroad track for more...
The Sierra Club was instrumental in the creation of Glacier National Park. Our founder, John Muir, called it "the best care-killing scenery on the continent." We've stepped up to protect Glacier's beauty and wildlife from man-made threats before -- now that Big Oil is trying to sacrifice national parks and local safety to fulfill its greed, it's time for us to spring into action again.
Locals along the railroads are scared -- and, given the highly flammable fracked oil and hard-to-clean tar sands on these trains, they're not wrong. Dan Sietsema, a county emergency coordinator in Montana, says, "It's a grave concern. It has the ability to wipe out a town."
Outdated standards just haven't kept up with the growth of oil-by-rail -- but we can't let these risky fossil fuels put our parks, our health, or our lives at risk anymore. Even Jack Dalrymple, the pro-oil Republican governor of North Dakota, where much of this oil comes from, is demanding new rules.
That hasn't stopped corporations like Dow Chemical and the Consumer Energy Alliance from fighting back against the new standards -- so it's critical that we get 35,000 grassroots voices pushing back against them.
Sign the petition: Our homes and national parks are not sacrifice zones! Strengthen oil train regulations now!
The Department of Transportation is already writing new standards -- but we need to make sure those standards are strong enough. Last month, the Sierra Club joined 15 other organizations to send a joint letter to the Department with specific recommendations. By adding our grassroots voices to those recommendations, we'll be acting at a key time, letting our government know that this is what the people want -- and need.