"Oil Tankers Leaking into Seattle’s Water"

"A highly flammable byproduct flowed from oil tankers into an area stormwater system for at least a year before state regulators inspected the problem.

Seventy miles north of Seattle, the Tesoro Anacortes rail facility—which daily offloads some 50,000 barrels of Bakken crude from tanker cars—was releasing a highly flammable oil byproduct into a stormwater system that lacked “required controls” for at least a year before state regulators were made aware of the potential hazard.

A faulty pipe connection was the source of the problem, according to a Northwest Clean Air Agency enforcement report obtained via an open-records request. As a result of the flaw, hydrocarbon vapors were being produced in the rail facility’s stormwater system that could have ignited under the right conditions, experts say."

Bill Conroy reports for the Daily Beast October 13, 2014.