Big day for big oil and friends: A smokestack fire at the U.S Oil and Refining Co. has sent a plume of black smoke over the Port of Tacoma. KOMONews reports the cause of the fire was determined to be crude oil that had been ignited in one of the refinery’s smoke stacks. And another oil train caught fire in central North Dakota (where they don't think Bakken Field oil is particularly dangerous), forcing a small community and surrounding farms to evacuate.
A Tacoma Fire Department official said, "It was kind of reminiscent of a Mount St. Helens explosion — just real dark, billowing, black ... you can definitely see some flames over there.” Eventually, fire crews were successful in cooling down the stack with water. The smoke and flames steadily diminished as the crude oil burned off and the fuel source was extinguished. No one was hurt and there was little chance of a collapse or explosion, said Tacoma fire officials.
Seattle Council Member Mike O'Brien says in a blog post that the two fires are "stark visual evidence of the need to transition away from our dependence on fossil fuels." He adds, "Beyond the immediate public safety impacts, we also have to consider the impact on our climate that burning all this oil poses to our planet and the future we are leaving for our children."
