Washington will let fire departments know when crude oil is coming though town under the law signed last week.

Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring said while the City Council has not adopted a measure, “The administration agrees with the spirit of the school district’s resolution.”

Of paramount concern to the school district is keeping its students, staff and even the community safe.

To that end, it passed a resolution May 18 asking for stricter controls over Bakken crude oil from North Dakota that passes through Marysville by rail on the way to the Bellingham area. The volume of oil transported through town is expected to increase, the resolution says.

The Federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued a safety alert Jan. 2, 2014, saying oil obtained from Bakken Shale is more explosive, which was evident in 2013 when a  derailment in Quebec killed 47 people. In the past three months, three other crude oil rail car explosions have occurred.

The district’s resolution encourages Congress to pass legislation introduced by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-WA, to require stronger tank car design, while banning the use of older models that don’t meet new federal requirements.

The resolution asks for special speed limits through towns to minimize the potential for derailment. The resolution also says all of its schools are within a potential rail car blast zone like the one in Quebec. Along with that, Marysville also uses many railway crossings with schools buses carrying students.

It asks to minimize the volatile nature of the oil at the demarcation point to eliminate risks for explosions and fires.

And it asks for the state legislature to require disclosure of amount and type of oil products being moved, along with routes so communities can be fully informed of the risks.

The railway has said previously that the last item actually makes the transportation of such products more dangerous because terrorists would know when and where such volatile products would be located.

The new state law puts that last item into effect, despite BNSF’s objections. The new law also calls for more rail inspectors, more training of emergency responders, new analyses of risks posed by shipping oil on the Columbia River and additional contingency plans from railroads in the event of a spill. Railroads also have to show they can pay to clean up bad oil spills, and the state will begin collecting a barrel tax on oil shipments by train.

Progress is being made in other areas too.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Transportation ordered a phase-out of older model tankers. Other changes would force oil shippers to slow down trains in urban areas and use better braking systems. Federal lawmakers are pushing for faster action.

Inslee said the federal government must do more. It must immediately replace older tank cars, and it must lower train speeds, he said.

“These trains are a mile long, with very volatile material, they’re rolling though our neighborhood, and they are not safe today,” Inslee said.

Nehring continues to work on the issue as a member of the rail committee with the Association of Washington Cities.

Originally, he wanted to be on that committee to deal with traffic woes caused by trains in the city. But the past few years the concerns have changed to rail safety.

The 30 elected leaders on the AWC are working with state and federal lawmakers.

“Their response has been positive,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Sierra Club of Snohomish County counted 12 crude oil trains going through the county April 19-25. The club said one-third of the crude oil tank cars were the older DOT-111 model, which have safety concerns.

According to the BNSF website, rail is the safest mode of land transportation for freight, with hazardous material train accidents declining sharply the past 35 years. Key routes are inspected four times per week, and main lines are inspected daily. Crews monitor, repair and replace track infrastructure to ensure stability, safety and reliability. BNSF uses global positioning data for monitoring and controlling train movements to prevent collisions. In 2013, environmental and hazardous materials teams trained approximately 3,900 public emergency responders in communities across its network.