SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - Figures show railroads ship more than 1 million barrels of crude oil across Washington each week.
The Spokesman-Review reports information from October 2016 through September of this year indicate railroads shipped nearly 56 million barrels of crude oil across Washington in 82,000 rail cars. Most of the oil trains enter the state from Idaho, transporting light crude from North Dakota.
The state last year began requiring facilities that receive crude oil by rail to notify the state officials in advance of shipments. The information is shared with emergency managers along the rail route. The Department of Ecology later publishes quarterly reports summarizing the volumes.
The state says railroads began shipping crude oil through Washington in 2012, and volumes have increased over time.
Washington’s reporting rule also applies to pipelines, which must report information about crude oil volumes twice per year.
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Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesman.com
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