SINGLETRACK SIX: Revelstoke earns anchor tour stop on new mountain bike race series - 14
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Weds., July 10, 2013 www.revelstoketimesreview.com Vol. 116, No. 28
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BC Junior Golf Championship - 15
Timber Days 2013 Is Revelstoke prepared for a major train disaster?
First in a series exploring human and environmental safety concerns of rail transport of petrochemicals through Revelstoke
A train passes a marshy section of the Eagle River between Revelstoke and Sicamous last week. Aaron Orlando/Revelstoke Times Review
AARON ORLANDO
editor@revelstoketimesreview.com
Editor’s note: Reporter Alex Cooper and myself, editor Aaron Orlando, have been developing a co-authored series focusing on increases in oil shipments by rail in Canada. We are exploring the human and environmental safety of the practice, and investigating government and industry procedures designed to prevent and deal with leaks, derailments, fires, collisions and other rail disasters. Of course, we’re focusing on the Revelstoke area, which features some of the most challenging sections of the CPR line. Since we started exploring the subject, there have been several serious and disconcerting incidents. The CPR bridge across the Columbia River caught on fire on May 4. On June 27, rail cars filled with petroleum products
Revelstoke Timber Days 2013 on July 6 featured amateur logging competition for community members under a hot sun in Centennial Park. Organizers said the event attracted about the same attendance as 2012, and continues to grow its community-participation focus. For more, see page 10. Top: Dan Peck (left) wins the men’s final of the birling competition over Scott Hanson. Bottom right: Nadine Overwater rounds the corner in the choker race portion of the team relay event. Bottom left: Noah Overwater smiles and takes a breather as the judge points him out as the winner in his age category in the pie gobble. See page 10 for more on Timber Days 2013. Aaron Orlando/Revelstoke Times Review
were stranded on a compromised bridge over the Bow River in Calgary, requiring an elaborate rescue. Most tragically, on July 6, a runaway oil train derailed and exploded in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, killing at least five, with about 40 unaccounted for at our press time. Planned oil pipelines through B.C., such as the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, have been central to provincial and national political discussions over the past two years. But what about the oil coming through by rail? How much travels through Revelstoke? How much more will come in the future? What are the human and environmental safety concerns? Are we willing and ready to meet them? Are we prepared? We hope our series will open a discussion and shed light on the
Rail safety, page 11
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