I think the issue is unions. The railroads are run by the unions, and the pipelines probably are not.
You can’t shorten the work day of a pipeline like you can an engineer with union rules.
I would also suggest you can’t pipeline everything.
Crude isn’t just for gasoline. Plastics, other chemicals are refined. You wont be piping plastic anywhere anytime soon.
So you build a pipeline, with the railroads help and you pipe the crude to where? It isn’t like there is 1 refinery that does all the refining. You could bring it to a central point and you would still need the railroad to haul it to the end user(where are the refined products going?).
Does anyone think Buffet will be losing money(not, not making more money, but losing money) in any scenario?
Look I am for the pipeline, but I am just trying to point out the fact that Obama isn’t listening to Buffet tell him to not approve a pipeline when Buffet will make money either way. And Obama’s ego will not allow him to listen to anyone anyway.
There is enough money to go around to everyone involved in the pipeline and the railroads along with all the ancillary enterprises that support both.