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Of interest to those of us who follow industry affairs beyond passenger trains, President Biden has cancelled the permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline through the US. Here is New York Times reporting of this development.
Fair Use (railroad related):
There are numerous pipelines between the two countries, in addition to railways, through which Canada sends oil to American refineries. And two other Canadian pipelines serving the United States are currently being expanded, making it likely that production in the oil sands will continue.
Still, the question, Mr. Leach said, is whether these other pipelines are also targets of the new U.S. administration: Is Mr. Biden “saying basically we don’t want cross-border pipelines, or we just don’t want this particular pipeline?”
I think environmental interests fail to recognize is that (Graziano 1267) crude still is being shipped by rail, and that the roads have made great strides to "clean up the act". Yes, Megantic put a "terrible Black Eye" on the industry's ability to safely handle the shipments. This was further abetted by the incidents, while not resulting in the loss of life and hence news media coverage, occurring on all seven Class I's.
But I think it time that these interests accept that railroads now represent a mode that can safely handle crude oil.
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