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 in West Virginia launched a national conversation about the 

. It's a topic we've been hearing about over the past couple years, especially here in Minnesota, where Bakken oil crisscrosses the state's rail lines in large volume. 


It's a complex topic combining federal policy with scientific questions. The Wall Street Journal's Russell Gold has been following the issue closely and spoke to 

7 things you should know about oil transport by rail

1. The most misunderstood part of crude oil transport by train: It's very explosive.


"The kind of oil that's being taken out of the ground in North Dakota and put into these tanker cars is a much lighter oil," Gold said. "It is a very gassy oil; it has a lot of ethanes, and butanes and propanes dissolved in it. It really does explode and that's really what's causing the problems."


When a set of tanker cars goes up in flames, it can cause 20-story-tall fireballs. 


Footage from the West Virigina derailment last week:

Raw: Large Flames Near WV Train Derailment

2. The amount of crude oil carried by train has increased exponentially in less than a decade.


According to the American Association of Railroads, there were 9,500 rail cars carrying crude in 2008. Last year is was 400,000.


We've been moving small amounts of crude by rail for years, but it was one or two cars in long train, Gold said. Now we see 100 to 120 tanker cars all filled with crude oil. That's 70,000 barrels of crude per train, he said.

3. Once the crude oil is extracted in North Dakota, it has to be transported to the country's major refineries on the coasts.


Refineries are built to utilize the gases removed from the product. If it was stabilized near the extraction site, North Dakota would have to find a way to use or dispose of the ethane and propane gases that make the oil explosive. 

4. Railroads have become "virtual pipelines" for oil.

5. Pipeline leaks and spills are environmental problems. Oil train derailments are public safety issues. 


When you have a tank car that derails and starts losing it's very gassy oil, it's going to burst into fire rather than leak into waterways, Gold said. 

6. If you live close to these rail lines, get in touch with local first responders.


Gold recommends checking with emergency responders nearby and ask if they are properly trained to handle a crude oil train derailment. Make sure your fire chief is in contact with the rail companies to know when major shipments come through your area. Push for decreasing train speed limits and increased track inspection. 

7. Can we make the tanker cars safer? Gold gave us the latest:

New tanker car designs could improve safety of oil by rail by MPR News

MPR News Producer Brigitta Greene contributed to this report.

Emily Kaiser

Author

The Wall Street Journal's Russell Gold has been following the issue closely and spoke to MPR News to answer listener questions.

Last week's derailment of an oil train in West Virginia launched a national conversation about the safety of shipping oil by rail. It's a topic we've been hearing about over the past couple years, especially here in Minnesota, where Bakken oil crisscrosses the state's rail lines in large volume.

Oil by rail: Safety issues, explained

Steven Wayne Rotsch | AP file

Wall Street Journal Reporter Russell Gold joined MPR News' Tom Weber Feb. 26,2015 to talk about the latest news on the safety of transporting oil by rail. He explained the latest effort to build safer tanker cars for the crude oil.

7 things you need to know about oil-by-rail safety

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