Oil trains are our common danger

To those at the Jan. 20 Sandpoint City Council meeting, so against allowing immigrants into our town, I marveled at the energy you spent, and thought if you knew the danger we are currently in from North Dakota bakken oil trains — five a day, going through Sandpoint — you might want to redirect that energy. What’s wrong with oil? We’ve had it forever, right?

This oil is different. To extract oil from shale, chemicals (propane, butane, methane) are injected into it. Then the oil and those chemicals are loaded into train cars; a clear liquid, much more volatile, has a lower flash point (will explode at a much lower temperature). Should such a train derail, an explosion would extend a half mile from the track. This could include downtown Sandpoint, some schools, our hospital, neighborhoods, and our lake.

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LYNN PIETZ

Sandpoint