Philadelphia is unique in that due to its industrial history rail road infrastructure is crisscrossed throughout the city. Rail routes pass through neighborhoods, along the river, underneath historical buildings like the Philadelphia Museum of Art, adjacent to World-renowned research hospitals like the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and in close proximity to some of the Nation’s leading Universities and Colleges. If a rail car carrying oil should ignite and explode there is a half-mile blast zone for immediate evacuation and a one-mile impact zone. These fires have proved very hard to extinguish and the response is to contain and evacuate. 700,000 people in the Philadelphia metro area and 400,00 people in Philadelphia city limits live within the evacuation and impact zone. Train derailments are not the only risk associated with the rail cars. Significant health risks arise from Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) that emit from valves. Emissions from diesel locomotives, noise pollution and idling from hours on tracks are also a cause of concern for public health. Penn Environment and Action United and Stand Earth (formerly Forest Ethics) issued a study with findings showing that low income and minority residents and neighborhoods are disproportionately at a higher risk for health and safety impacts because their communities are more likely to be on an oil train route.
