"Albany, New York Sheriff Craig Apple assured a room of concerned citizens that county emergency crews were prepared to handle an oil-train accident involving three or four tank cars.

Firefighters have been training to combat railcar fires with foam, and evacuation plans are detailed in a 500-page emergency response plan, Apple told residents in a May 12 address.

But he was blunt about the potential impact of a larger derailment: "Look, let's face it, there's going to be mayhem."

Albany's tracks handle as much as a fourth of the oil pumped from North Dakota's booming Bakken Shale, or up to several 100-car trains per day, each carrying 70,000 barrels."

Joshua Schneyer, Rory Carroll, and Richard Valdmanis report for Reuters May 25, 2014. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Area Poorly Prepared for Crude-Oil Train Fires" (Chicago Tribune) [3]