Keystone XL Cancelled – More Railcar Oil Spills

There is oil to be moved. Obama has cancelled Keystone XL.  So Warren Buffet and his railway the BNSF (and other railways) are stepping up and building thousands of miles of new track.

Right through the middle of cities.

“WATERTOWN — A Canadian Pacific train, with some cars carrying crude oil, derailed in Watertown on Sunday afternoon, November 8th — and dozens of homes were evacuated. Evacuated residents got word Sunday night that they would NOT be allowed back in their homes.”

Canadian Pacific: 13 rail cars derailed in Watertown; less than 1,000 gallons of crude oil leaked

 

Buffett’s BNSF helped lead fight to delay train safety technology

 

Last week, under pressure from companies including Buffett’s BNSF Railway Co, which has spent more money lobbying Congress this year than any other railroad, U.S. legislators passed, and President Obama signed, a law that delays the so-called positive train control mandate for at least three years, with the possibility of an additional two-year delay.

That means railroad operators can put off having to buy and install equipment that safety advocates say would have prevented accidents that have claimed more than 245 lives and caused over 4,200 injuries since the National Transportation Safety Board began calling for the technology in 1969.”

http://kelo.com/news/articles/2015/nov/04/buffetts-bnsf-helped-lead-fight-to-delay-train-safety-technology/

 

 

 

Railways Are Building Even If the Keystone XL Isn’t

There is oil to be moved. Obama and company keeps delaying approval of the Keystone XL.  So Warren Buffet and his railway the BNSF (and other railways) are stepping up and building thousands of miles of new track.

Right through the middle of cities.

Bakkentrain_13946551525353-300x300-noup

BNSF will make the following investments:

-$162 million to double track the rail line from Minot, N.D., to Glasgow, Mont., to help address major congestion issues for westbound traffic to destinations in the Pacific Northwest.

-$26 million to add sub sidings to address congestion from Fargo, N.D., to Grand Forks, N.D.

-$14 million to add sub sidings to address congestion from Fargo, N.D., to Glendive, Mont.

-$13 million to add sub sidings to address congestion from Minot, N.D., to Grand Forks, N.D.

-$13 million to add sub sidings and an interchange track to address congestion from Canada to the U.S.

-$11 million for centrailized traffic control to improve service from Bismarck, N.D., to Fargo, N.D.

-$8 million to add sub sidings and conduct signal work along track from Fargo, N.D., to Minot, N.D.

The company also recently issued a request for proposal to major rail-car manufacturers to submit bids for the construction of 5,000 next-generation tank cars used to move crude oil.

http://thebakken.com/articles/551/bnsf-plans-record-nd-investments-in-2014

Environmentalists Win Battle Over Keystone XL – Environment Loses War

Environmentalists have kept the Keystone XL pipeline from being finished. Pipelines are the safest way to move oil to oil terminals on various costs of the USA and Canada. They are not perfect. There is some risk. But there is risk in every project.

Now oil companies are bypassing the Keystone.  They are going to move the oil (in fact they are already moving the oil) via rail. Moving oil by rail is not as safe. But it is easier to add rail cars and more rail terminals than it is to get a pipeline approved.

Way to go environmental morons. (Warning. Link is to NY Times)

“Since July, plans have been announced for three large loading terminals in western Canada with the combined capacity of 350,000 barrels a day — equivalent to roughly 40 percent of the capacity of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that is designed to bring oil from western Alberta to refineries along the Gulf Coast.  Over all, Canada is poised to quadruple its rail-loading capacity over the next few years to as much as 900,000 barrels a day, up from 180,000 today.”

“The Canadians remain a few years behind producers in North Dakota, where the paucity of pipelines encouraged early oil explorers like EOG Resources to form a partnership with Burlington Northern Santa Fe to build terminals for the shipment of oil by rail to refineries across the country.  Today more than three-quarters of North Dakota’s production, which also was to move on the Keystone XL pipeline, is transported by rail. The Canadian oil producers took notice.”