One year ago on July 6, a unit oil train derailed and exploded in Lac-Mégantic, Québec, killing 47 people, destroying the center of the town, and alerting the world to the inherent dangers of transporting crude by rail. This year on July 6, communities in Maine are remembering this loss of life and the ongoing endangerment to every community through which trains carry this volatile cargo.

Locally in Damariscotta and Brunswick, people will gather at noon on the Damariscotta-Newcastle bridge and on the Brunswick mall for a memorial vigil. See more information below.

At 4:30 p.m. at Happy Acres Hall in Alton, Mainers for a Fossil-Free Future will present some of the history of oil trains through Maine, oil and rail industry plans for future shipments, and ways that Mainers can take action to stop these bomb trains from endangering life, land, water, and air. More details below. Special guest speaker Maria Girouard of the Penobscot Nation will talk about the sacredness of water, the need to protect it, and the harm that oil trains pose to our waters. Benjamin Marriner Pratt, a firefighter, paramedic, and hazardous materials technician with the Orono-Old Town Response Team — one of four Type 1 teams serving the state of Maine — will talk about Maine’s ability to respond to an oil train derailment and explosion, what trainings and resources are available, and what is lacking to provide effective response to this imminent threat.

“On July 6 we will come together in our communities to remember the oil train disaster and to take action to stop the oil trains,” said Read Brugger, Freedom resident and member of Mainers for a Fossil-Free Future.

“Big Oil and federal regulators maintain that the Lac-Mégantic tragedy was the result of a ‘perfect storm’ of things gone bad. But subsequent derailments and exploding tank cars—like in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick; Castleton, North Dakota; Lynchburg, Virginia; Buhl, Alabama, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — reveal that it was business as usual. A year after Lac-Mégantic, trains are still exploding. Rail and oil industries are still sending, and plan to send even more oil by rail through our communities,” he said.

While shipping oil by unit train through Maine appears to have ceased, Pan Am Railways has resumed crude-by-rail shipments, placing the tank cars among other freight and moving them to the Irving refinery in St. John, New Brunswick. Shipment of fracked oil by unit train (trains that carry a single product in 100-plus car lines) continues throughout the nation unabated.

Several Maine communities also will mark the Lac-Mégantic disaster with commemorative events on Sunday, July 6:

In Belfast, 350 Waldo County is planting 47 sunflowers, one for each person who died in the explosion, at the community garden by the YMCA on 157 Lincolnville Avenue (Route 52) at 1 p.m. There will be a few short speeches and a moment of silence to honor the 47 who died in the fire bomb that engulfed Lac-Mégantic. Contact Bob Shaw at 207-338-4450 or bshw86@gmail.com.

In Brunswick, 350 Brunswick and Bowdoin Climate Action will gather at the Brunswick Mall at noon for a vigil. Contact Bill Rixon at 207-865-9632 or billrixon@myfairpoint.net.

In Damariscotta, a group of will be standing in a vigil on the Damariscotta-Newcastle Bridge at noon. Contact Andy Burt at 207-380-5387 or annedburt145@gmail.com

In Portland, 350 Greater Portland is observing a silent vigil in Monument Square at 1:15 p.m. Contact Bob at 207-317-1692 or bob@350maine.org. 

Additional events are in the planning stages for Auburn, Portland and Waterville. Information on these and other commemorative events will be available on actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/oil-by-rail-week-of-action.

The presentation is scheduled for Sunday, July 6, at Happy Acres Hall on 3704 Bennoch Road (Route 16) in Alton. The event starts at 4:30 p.m. and runs through 6. The presentation will be followed by a potluck so please bring something to share. It is sponsored by Mainers for a Fossil-Free Future, 350 Maine, 350 Bangor, 350 Waldo County, and Happy Acres Hall. For more information, contact Read at 207-382-6477or stoptheoiltrains@gmail.com.