Washington and Missouri activists monitor oil trains with Twitter

How to start monitoring oil trains via Twitter:

First sign up for a Twitter account.  It is super easy and if you can send an email or text, you can use Twitter.  Twitter works on a computer, tablet, or smartphone.

When you see a 100% oil train, tweet the time (am/pm), city, direction of travel, and the hashtag for your state.  Use your state’s abbreviation with oiltrainwatch.  For example, Washington state would be #waoiltrainwatch, Tennessee would use #tnoiltrainwatch.  Next, set up a Twitter search widget under settings.  You could go door to door asking railside residents to join your Train Watch Team or search in your city for webcams that are pointed at the railroad tracks.  Ideally your data is posted immediately online via Twitter to provide a warning siren to first responders, elected officials, and the public, that a Bakken crude oil train is rolling through town.  This data can also be used to hold oil export terminals and railroads accountable for the volumes of oil they are shipping and can be used to bust companies that are violating their air quality permits because they think that no one is watching.

Thanks to Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment (MORE), for starting the Missouri Train Watch.  MORE will utilize cameras to enhance their train watching activities.  You can find their posts on twitter by searching for #mooiltrainwatch.

MORE can be reached at 314-862-2249 or 314-780-3734 and by email at zach@organizemo.org.  For more info, go to http://www.organizemo.org.

Vancouver Action Network is engaged in a Twitter Train Watch campaign in Washington state.  If you can’t sit by the tracks, please watch the Vancouver City Hall webcam at http://www.cityofvancouver.us/cmo/page/vancouver-webcams. ***If you help monitor oil trains by viewing the webcam, please try to view the entire oil train to ensure an accurate observation.  If the train is moving from left to right across the screen, it is westbound.***

For more info go to http://vancouveractionnetwork.blogspot.com.

If you need technical assistance, please contact us at vancouveractionnetwork@gmail.com.