The recent train derailment in West Virginia that was, reportedly, carrying Bakken crude from North Dakota’s shale fields may very well put the Tar Sands and the Keystone XL Pipeline … and the politics thereof … back into the top of the news cycle.
It was just last month The Globe and Mail reported that the current US Legislative “revolt” over the Keystone XL Pipeline is just a delay and that, “The revolt will likely be a temporary setback to the legislation.” In other words, politics as usual.
Political positioning aside, is the Keystone XL Pipeline ultimately a “good thing” from an environmental perspective?
Keystone XL Pipeline – The Environmentally Responsible Approach
This is the position of Terry Anderson, Senior Fellow and former President and Executive Director of PERC – the Property and Environmental Research Center. Last year, he wrote an article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal (it can also be found on PERC’s website). In this article, Mr. Anderson argued, in essence, that the Keystone XL pipeline is the more environmentally responsible approach to moving the oil. Anderson goes so far as to say that killing the pipeline project is “absurd.”
To make his environmental case for the Pipeline, and as it turns out in a somewhat prophetic way, Anderson documents several train derailments, including:
- A downtown Lynchburg, Virginia, derailment on April 2014 when approximately “30,000 gallons of Bakken crude oil burned or spilled into the James River.”
- The May 2014 derailment near Denver, Colorado, when 6,500 gallons of oil was spilled but contained in a ditch before reaching the South Platte River.
- The horrific 2013 derailment in Lac Mégantic, Quebec, where 1.3 million gallons of crude oil spilled and resulted in the deaths of 47 people and “incinerated 30 buildings.”
Anderson says, “Clearly, we are going to continue moving crude oil and petroleum products from where they are extracted to where they are needed. When considering whether to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline, therefore, the question has to be: Which is safer, pipeline or rail tank cars?”
If you have an interest in this topic, Anderson has some other interesting statistics. It comes as no surprise to most of us in the environmental business that politics is a very significant factor in the Pipeline issue; politics permeate our industry. Last November, my colleague, Chris Paré, wrote a blog, “Vapour Intrusion from TCE – The Politics and the Science.”
Environmental Compliance Advice – Keep it “Non-Partisan”
It is because of the political nature of our business that we advise our clients to be measured in what they commit to and to carefully document their environmental compliance efforts. The more we can keep politics out of issues such as assessments, remediation, vapour intrusion, and compliance, the more likely we are to reach our endpoint quicker.
If you need some “non-partisan” assistance on an environmental matter, contact Christopher Paré, P.Geo (cpare@dragun.com) at 519-979-7300, ext 114.