After West Virginia Oil Train Derailment, Sign Keystone Bill

Investor's Business Daily ^ | February 19, 2015 | IBD EDITORIALS

[raptor22]

Energy: Three million gallons of Bakken crude burning in rural West Virginia after an oil train derails in a snowstorm ought to underscore the environmental safety of replacing rail cars with the Keystone XL pipeline.

One of the reasons President Obama says he'll veto the Keystone pipeline bill that, as a result of last November's GOP electoral gusher, has found its way to his desk is that it will only carry Canadian crude to foreign markets and is not worth jeopardizing the environment.

Two things are wrong with that argument.

The first is that Keystone XL will also bring Bakken crude to the American market, accelerating the oil boom from fracking in the shale formation centered on North Dakota. This will make North America energy independent and the rest of the world less dependent on Middle Eastern oil, a matter of no small significance.

[raptor22]

KEYSTONE PIPELINE PING

[meatloaf]

According to one source the tank cars involved in the WV derailment were the new design.

[Smokin' Joe]

Take most anything and throw it down a hill and mash it with more stuff and it will break.

They work just fine if ....

1: They are kept on the rails...and

2: No one hits them with or runs them into another train.

This is the second derailment of an oil hauling train for this rail line, the first was in Lynchburg, VA last year Oil Train Derails in Lynchburg, Virginia I'd check out the problem with CSX (trackage/policies/procedures?) before I'd blame the cargo or the cars. The latter are just along for the ride.