The Bush administration, which has ventured thousands of miles away to pursue still unsubstantiated reports of weapons of mass destruction, continues to thwart efforts to eliminate the very real danger of catastrophic terrorist attacks right in the nation's own backyard.
The threat consists of chemical-laden railroad tank cars-- lethal cargoes which the US Department of Transportation characterizes as potential "Weapons of Mass Destruction."
A hair-raising photo taken last September shows the Capitol dome in the background with a loaded, clearly identified, extremely dangerous chlorine tank car passing in the foreground, on tracks just blocks away (dangerous cargoes carry this identification to assist firemen and emergency
personnel responding to an accident).
"This photo is an indictment of non-homeland security," says Dr. Fred Millar, a rail security specialist who served as a consultant to Friends of the Earth on the issue of terrorism and dangerous rail cargoes. "The blindness on this is stunning," Millar told Bushgreenwatch.
The simple, effective solution-- opposed by the chemical industry, the railroads, and the Bush administration-- is to reroute hazardous cargoes away from cities ranked as major targets for terrorists, such as Washington, New York, Chicago, Houston, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
A sudden release of chlorine from a 90-ton rail tank car could create a cloud 40 miles long and 4 miles wide and be fatal 8 to 10 miles downwind. [1] If terrorists ruptured a tank car on tracks near the Washington Mall during public events such as the Fourth of July or the Inauguration, the deadly cloud could kill 100,000 people in a half-hour, according to estimates from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratories. [2]
Dr. Millar, who also sits on DC's Local Emergency Planning Committee, has urged the DC City Council to enact a proposal to prevent the four most dangerous cargoes from passing through by rail or highway when practical alternative routes exist. "This seems a no-brainer," he told the council last October, "since re-routing would eliminate the attractiveness [to terrorists]." This could be done along the Eastern seaboard by shifting hazardous cargo to a rail route which runs largely through a rural corridor instead of major cities such as Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Newark. [3]
If anyone doubts how easy it would be to sabotage a rail car, all one need do is take a look at the rail cars passing the Capitol with graffiti sprayed all over them. That graffiti wasn't put there by any security police.
Although the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has conducted a study of the vulnerability of the Washington area's rail system to terrorist attack, it has repeatedly delayed the release. While awaiting this federal report, the DC Council has held back on the rerouting legislation.
On Capitol Hill, Representative Ed Markey (D-MA) proposed a bill that would mandate DHS to reroute dangerous chemical cargoes, but Congress failed to take up the measure before going on recess. When promulgating regulations on hazardous cargo security in March 2003, the Bush administration dropped any mention of routing from the final rule.
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SOURCES:
[1] Chlorine Institute, Pamphlet 74.
[2] Testimony of Jay P. Borris, chief scientist at US Naval Research Laboratories before District of Columbia Council, Oct. 6, 2003.
[3] Testimony of Dr. Fred Millar on Bill 15-25 "Terrorism Prevention and Safety In Hazardous Materials Transportation Act of 2003," Jan. 23, 2004.
