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 The report, the first of its kind to explicitly link issues of
class and race to the ongoing oil train safety debate, urged state
regulators to ban oil imports by train into California and reject
permits for several projects refiners have proposed to expand
oil-by-rail cargo capacity.
After analyzing U.S. census data for the 10 biggest cities in the
state and several smaller ones near refineries, ForestEthics and
Communities for a Better Environment found the neighborhoods with
the largest minority populations were usually inside the so-called
blast zone, the one-mile evacuation zone along tracks recommended by
the U.S. Department of Transportation in case of accidents.
By one measure, about 75 percent of residents inside the blast zone
in the cities studied were Hispanic-Latino, African-American, or
Asian, with whites making up 22 percent of the population.
Outside the blast zone, the white population doubled to 43 percent.
 "Oil trains contribute to environmental racism in California," the
groups said in a statement. "Californians of color are more likely
to live in the oil train blast zone."
To be sure, trains carrying toxic substances move through many
wealthy neighborhoods, especially in Houston, which is ringed by
refineries, and picturesque cities like Santa Barbara, California. A
deadly 2013 crash in Quebec happened in tiny Lac Megantic.
But environmental groups insist it is only a matter of time before
there is a fiery train derailment in a big city. Oil train traffic,
especially to Washington state and the East Coast, has grown quickly
as new oilfields from the fracking revolution often lack pipelines
to move crude to markets.
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For the time being, however, oil train volumes arriving in
California have waned in recent months because of broader oil market
volatility.
Critics worry those volumes will recover when crude prices spike
again, bringing in more from North Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado and
other nearby states.
In January and March of this year, crude by rail volumes into
California were around 11,000 barrels per day (bpd) and 7,800 bpd,
respectively, according data from the California Energy Commission.
That is a small fraction of 1.7 million bpd of crude processed daily
in California. Half of that is imported, mainly from the Middle
East, South America and Africa.
(Reporting by Terry Wade; Editing by Andrew Hay)
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