What's the media being "vague" about? And as for a "true cause," it's a different combination each time, it seems ... all the reasons you listed are applicable. It seems pretty simple to me: If you've got a large amount of a volatile material, and you handle it wrong, or the track is bad, or the tank cars are not as secure as they should be .. you've got a disaster waiting to happen. What I want to see is a reasonably detailed explanation about why the Bakken crude is so much more dangerous than what has been shipped over the rails for decades.