Is your community safe in the event of a train derailment involving crude oil? New website will tell you

Some may call this fear mongering while other may see as a much-needed public service.

On this, the week of the one year anniversary of the Lac-Mégantic train derailment, a U.S. environmental group has launched a new website which allows users to determine if they live in a "blast zone" of trains carrying millions of gallons of crude oil.

Blast-Zone.org — the brainchild of Forest Ethics — uses Google Maps and railroad industry data on oil train routes across the US and Canada.

You can actually enter your address and the app will tell you whether you're in a "one mile evacuation zone in the case of an oil train fire or a half mile in the case of a spill."

The group estimates that 25 million Americans live in the potential oil train blast zone. While they haven't done the same analysis in Canada, a quick look at the map suggests that most of Canada's major cites are on the paths of these trains.

Press Progress — an arm of the left-leaning Broadbent Institute — identified 11 Canadian landmarks that could be affected in the case of a train derailment. Their list includes the CN Tower in Toronto and Canada Place in Vancouver.

[ Related: Thousands of Via Rail passengers delayed after CN derailment in Brockville, Ont. ]

Eddie Scher a spokesperson for Forest Ethics, admits that their website is likely to instill fear into many North Americans.

We're not happy about it," he told Yahoo Canada News.

"But it is not lines on a map that are scary, it's the mile long, 100-plus car oil trains filled with explosive crude oil that is scary. It's the fact that the number of these trains has increased exponentially over the past five years and safety standards, emergency response, public awareness and public control over where these trains are allowed are nowhere near adequate.

"We understand that the industry might blame the messenger on this, but I don't think any one can deny the potential for catastrophic danger from these trains. That's proven."

[ More Politics: Public sector unions file complaint with labour board, refuse to negotiate on sick leave benefits ]

As for industry, they claim that they have made changes to further safeguard Canadians.

Here's a recent joint statement by Michael Bourque and Edward R. Hamberger, the respective presidents of the Canada's and the United States' rail associations.

The federal transport minister also claims that the Canadian government is focused on ensuring nothing like the incident at Lac-Mégantic ever happens again.

Last fall, Transport Minister Lisa Raitt issued a directive railway companies to provide municipalities with aggregate data on which dangerous goods pass through their communities. According to Raitt that would help cities better prepare for emergency situations.

Earlier this year, as explained by CBC News, the government announced further measures which include:

• the phasing out retrofit of older tank cars that are used to transport crude oil or ethanol by rail;

• a requirement for railway companies to reduce their speed to 80km/hour if they are carrying dangerous goods; and

• a requirement for railway companies to have an emergency response plan for any train carrying at least one car with oil.

Do you feel safe?

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