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Canada oil train disaster a lesson for Keystone XL opponents
American Thinker ^ | 07/09/2013 | Thomas Lifson

Posted on 07/09/2013 7:19:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

American greenies imagine they can save the planet by stopping construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, but in the real world they will expose Mother Gaia (and human beings) to greater harm by forcing more oil to be transported by rail. Pipelines are far safer than rail transportation, as we are reminded by the horror that engulfed much of the town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec in flames. Thirteen people are known dead, but as many as 50 are missing, while charred bodies still are being pulled from the ruins.

This reality should haunt the nightmares of greenies, people generally given to worry. Forget global warming, this was real warming to hellish levels. Even for those environmentalists who regard humans as a plague, the environmental damage in Lac-Megantic is severe. The AP reports:

Crews were working to contain 27,000 gallons of light crude that spilled from the tankers and made its way into nearby waterways. There were fears it could flow into the St. Lawrence River all the way to Quebec City.

An increasing share of oil in America is being transported by rail. The North Dakota shale oil bonanza is vastlyenriching the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, a Warren Buffet property. Keystone XL could take away a good share of that traffic. But the trend is nationwide. A local Bay Area refinery plans to spend $50 million to create a rail facility for receiving tanker car transported oil. No doubt, precautions will be taken locally to prevent or mitigate any possible environmental damage, but what of the vast network of rails on which oil tanker cars could travel?

The plain fact is that there is far more human interaction required to move oil by rail than by pipeline. One small fault on rail bed or track could cause a derailment

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Canada; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: canada; disaster; energy; keystone; keystonepipeline; lacmegantic; oil; quebec; railway; train; willie
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1 posted on 07/09/2013 7:19:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

2 posted on 07/09/2013 7:22:13 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
This reality should haunt the nightmares of greenies, people generally given to worry.

Greenies do not worry about people, property, the environment, or anything real. They only worry about the false god of their imagination.

3 posted on 07/09/2013 7:23:51 AM PDT by DakotaGator (Weep for the lost Republic! And keep your powder dry!!)
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To: SeekAndFind
Grass lake Michigan is typical of thousands of little towns all across America. Homes and businesses are right up against the railroad because the towns sprung up as a result of the railroad.

The railroad is the dashed line.

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4 posted on 07/09/2013 7:25:11 AM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: DakotaGator
Greenies do not worry about people, property, the environment, or anything real.

Actually, they would like to see 5 or 6 billion people eliminated. They would consider this tragedy to be a good thing.

5 posted on 07/09/2013 7:25:29 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (This is a sarcasm tag for the retards unable to recognize sarcasm.)
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To: SeekAndFind

cough**terrorism**cough**coverup**cough.


6 posted on 07/09/2013 7:26:05 AM PDT by exPBRrat
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To: SeekAndFind

But the greenies would argue “...we don’t need ANY stinkin’ oil, by rail OR pipeline. We could all just live in mud houses or caves, and not drive, and eat seaweed, and and and...”

Crazy-azzed greenies would NEVER admit that their plans contribute to disasters like this train wreck or the BP rig mess.


7 posted on 07/09/2013 7:26:40 AM PDT by Mich Patriot (PITCH BLACK is the new "transparent")
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Quite!


8 posted on 07/09/2013 7:28:41 AM PDT by DakotaGator (Weep for the lost Republic! And keep your powder dry!!)
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To: cripplecreek

Ha ha...good ol’ Grass Lake, MI. I knew this was your post as soon as I saw it, CC.

Many years ago someone changed the “Welcome to Grass Lake” sign (Wolf Lake Road) to read “Welcome to __ass _ake” by painting over some letters. :)


9 posted on 07/09/2013 7:30:42 AM PDT by Mich Patriot (PITCH BLACK is the new "transparent")
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To: SeekAndFind

The pipeline opponents are not against pipelines per say, they are against oil and industrielization in any form, and they are anarchist to boot.


10 posted on 07/09/2013 7:31:53 AM PDT by jerod (Pro-Abortion Gun Control Freaks & Environmental Nuts who hated Capitalism? The Nazi's)
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To: SeekAndFind

From Wiki re: 1991 Cantera spill

The spill, accompanied by a toxic chemical cloud that sent area residents to hospitals, quickly stripped bare a 41-mile stretch of the Sacramento River. Wildlife experts estimate the agricultural fumigant designed to kill soil pests killed more than one million fish and thousands of trees during a three-day floating journey to Shasta Lake.

CSX wouldn’t let this happen.


11 posted on 07/09/2013 7:32:06 AM PDT by sasquatch
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To: exPBRrat
cough**terrorism**cough**coverup**cough.

That or something between incompetence and gross negligence.

Maybe someone needs to reevaluate the protocols for leaving a train loaded with crude oil unattended at the top of a grade.

12 posted on 07/09/2013 7:32:45 AM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing)
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To: SeekAndFind

Warren Buffet, Democrat donor and fan of Obama, says, “Keep my train cars rolling, and kill the XL pipeline! Who cares how many little towns explode along the tracks?”


13 posted on 07/09/2013 7:39:01 AM PDT by txrefugee
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To: Mich Patriot

I remember a derailment in Grass Lake when I was a kid. My grandfather took me over there to gawk at it. It was a trainload of Fords.


14 posted on 07/09/2013 7:40:42 AM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: SeekAndFind
Keystone would not have transported this oil to that market.

Millions of barrels of crude oil have been safely transported, but like jumbo jets, when there is a wreck, it is bad.

The alternatives to get this oil to that market?

Pipeline to the Gulf and barges/tankers or haul it in trucks.

Both have their self-evident drawbacks.

The pipeline capacity problem continues, and will continue, even with Keystone, and the refineries which were using imported overseas crude for feedstocks can use North American (US) oil instead if it is hauled in by rail.

The problem here is not that the train was transporting oil so much as the policies and procedures surrounding the idling of the train overnight where such a disaster could possibly occur.

Focusing on oil as a cargo will not fix those procedures nor the potential for failure in the future. There are a host of other cargoes which could have had a similar outcome.

I noticed on Fox, the crawl was blaming the construction of the rail cars, but there was no mention of the train being left at the top of the grade unattended.

15 posted on 07/09/2013 7:42:21 AM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing)
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To: txrefugee
Regardless of politics, Buffett saw that the oil from the Bakken and Three Forks had no way to market and bought into the major transportation company in the region. Rail terminals were already being constructed for crude oil transport before Buffett made the purchase.

As for Keystone, it was designed to take heavy crude from Canada to US Refineries further south, and some Bakken/Three Forks oil would have been transported, but that would have still left a transportation capacity deficit.

The Keystone pipeline would not have taken oil east to refineries in Nova Scotia, no matter what.

Would you leave a trainload of oil tankers unattended overnight? Maybe those policies should be examined first.

16 posted on 07/09/2013 7:47:33 AM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing)
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To: Smokin' Joe
That or something between incompetence and gross negligence.

We have a winner!!!

17 posted on 07/09/2013 7:50:20 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: Smokin' Joe

Insight: How a train ran away and devastated a Canadian town
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3040657/posts

Be sure to read post #27 as part of the understanding why the breaks eventually would fail after shutting down the air supply. Not immediately, they would first hold close but still depends on individual pressure tanks to hold the breaks after loss of main supply.


18 posted on 07/09/2013 7:55:19 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: thackney
why the breaks brakes eventually...

Spell check doesn't catch all stupid mistakes...

19 posted on 07/09/2013 7:56:30 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: DakotaGator

The U.S. MSM has done an excellent job of burying this story since it happened. MSM used the SF plane story and anything else to hide the Quebec City story and to protect obami.

I read that this was North Dakota crude that headed to eastern Canada. So the pipeline cross the northern border is quite relevant.


20 posted on 07/09/2013 8:03:47 AM PDT by George from New England (escaped CT in 2006, now living north of Tampa)
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