(Source: Think Progress, February 6, 2014)
SPOKANE, Wash. — Railroads made this eastern Washington city a commercial powerhouse in the inland Northwest. First, in 1881, came the Northern Pacific, followed by the Union Pacific, the Great Northern and other lesser known lines. Even today, freight trains rumble through the downtown and over the Spokane River and Interstate 90 throughout the day and night.
But with a spate of recent fiery, and even deadly, accidents involving trains carrying crude oil from the booming Bakken oil field in North Dakota and Montana, railroad traffic here is increasingly being viewed as a threat rather than a blessing.
Full story: Think Progress