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February 17, 2015

West Virginia: 1,000 Evacuated After Oil Train Derails 
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A CSX train carrying more than 100 cars of crude oil has derailed in
West Virginia, sending a massive fireball into the sky and forcing 1,000
people to evacuate. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has declared a state of
emergency. At least 14 tankers and a house caught fire, and at least one
car went into the Kanawha River, where it was leaking oil. The train was
transporting oil from the Bakken shale in North Dakota, where a fracking
boom has increased oil-by-rail shipments more than 4,000 percent in
recent years. The incident came after another oil train derailed in
Ontario, Canada, Saturday night, sparking a fire that was still burning
on Monday.

 

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