Trains Carrying Crude Oil Passing Through Bergen County Each Week

Roughly 30 trains, each carrying a million gallons of Bakken crude oil, pass through 11 towns in Bergen County each week.

Found in North Dakota, they travel over the CSX River Line from Northvale to Ridgefield. They transport the oil to a refinery in Philadelphia, according to documents released by New York officials.

A spokesman for the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management said the office plans on releasing limited documents about the trains, as releasing all records would pose a risk to homeland security.

New Jersey Deputy Fire Chief President Charles Aughenbaugh argued that these documents should be made public because of the danger risks they pose.

The Bakken crude oil being transported has a lower flash point than other grades of crude oil making it more easily combustible. The other concern with public safety is that a lot of these cars are transporting oil in substandard and aging tankers, but the federal government recently ordered upgrades.

The oil is transported by train as there are few pipelines in the area. Environmentalists have opposed a plan for a 150-mile oil pipeline that would transport Bakken crude oil from North Dakota.

Photo Credit: Kevin R. Wexler for The Record