Shameful: Keystone XL Proponent Using Deadly Quebec Oil Train Tragedy To Promote Pipeline

[octoberlib]

Five people are confirmed dead and 40 people remain missing in the small hamlet of Lac-Megantic, Quebec, where a train with 73 carloads full of Bakken shale oil derailed explosively, incinerating 30 buildings on Saturday.


In a commentary piece published in the Globe and Mail on Sunday, Diana Furchtgott-Roth, a "senior fellow" at the Exxon- and Koch-funded Manhattan Institute writes, "After Saturday’s tragedy in Lac-Mégantic, Que., it is time to speed up the approval of new pipeline construction in North America. Pipelines are the safest way of transporting oil and natural gas, and we need more of them, without delay."

No kidding, Furchgott-Roth wants no more delay in the Keystone XL pipeline, since she has been advocating on behalf of the oil industry in one form or another for more than 25 years, with stints as an economist at the American Petroleum Institute and the oil industry-backed American Enterprise Institute.

Working for oil company front groups is one thing, but using the tragedy still unfolding in Quebec to argue for more oil pipelines is a whole new level of low.

http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/07/08/keystone-xl-proponent-using-lac-megantic-quebec-tragedy-shameful

[NYC_SKP]

1. I called it. Saw this coming. So did others.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3191882

Fuckers.

[octoberlib]

2. You sure did. How convenient for them. Ugh. nt

[Art_from_Ark]

3. Meanwhile, back in March,

&feature=player_embedded

[octoberlib]

6. +1

Were the residents ever able to move back into their houses?

[Art_from_Ark]

7. I have seen conflicting reports about that

One report in mid-April said that some residents were being allowed back, just a few weeks after the spill. Another report dated April 29 stated that it would be "weeks" before residents would be allowed back. ExxonMobil claimed that it had cleaned the mess in the residential area, and offered to pay each resident $10,000 for their trouble, and to buy their houses if necessary. The latest news I can find about it, dated June 15 from Channel 40/29 (probably the most widely watched news channel in western Arkansas), states that a group of residents have filed a $5 million class-action lawsuit against ExxonMobil, and Arkansas's attorney general has also filed a lawsuit against the company.

http://www.4029tv.com/news/money/Exxon-sued-over-Arkansas-pipeline-spill/-/8897294/20560128/-/4155b9/-/index.html

[octoberlib]

9. Thanks for the info!

I hope they prevail.

[HooptieWagon]

4. Yes, a bit tasteless after the train wreck.

That said, if the lesser of three evils is selected...moving oil by pipeline transports more oil, cheaper, safer, and cleaner, than by rail or water.

However, the XL pipeline should not be approved b/c the US is taking the risks, and will not see a drop of that oil for our use. If Canada wants to sell that crap tarsands oil to China, let them build a pipeline across their own damn country to their own coastal ports.

[octoberlib]

5. Couldn't agree more. nt

[defacto7]

8. I wouldn't be surprised

if the oil companies actually caused the whole thing. Worse has happened in the name of money in the past. It's just a thought.. no insight from beyond.

[octoberlib]

10. I have had the same thought. nt

[moondust]

11. Or just leave some competent employees with the parked train

FULL OF EXPLOSIVE SHIT!!!!!!!!

This runaway train incident looks like the end result of the owner systematically eliminating his employees. I read where he favors remote control of trains in the yard as well as trains traveling with only ONE person on board. I guess no employees means no payroll and thus ME RICHER FASTER! ME RICHER FASTER! ME RICHER FASTER! ME! ME! ME! ME! ME!

Downsizer, eh?

[octoberlib]

12. I didn't know about that.

It's shameful.

[moondust]

13. More info:

(Subscription only)

To read story Google:

Runaway Quebec Train's Owner Battled Safety Issues

[octoberlib]

14. Thank you nt

[cali]

15. Rail is just as bad as pipeline. It's a total Catch-22

I predicted this within hours of it happening and posted a thread about it. That said

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023184414

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023184131

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023191053

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023194223

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023206138

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023206434

[cali]

16. One of the big problems with rail

<snip>

At least a handful of the tanker cars that crashed at 1:15 a.m. Saturday were older models known as DOT 111s in the United States. These models, which make up about two-thirds of the U.S. tanker car fleet, have been criticized by the National Transportation Safety Board in earlier incidents as “subject to damage and catastrophic loss of hazardous materials during the derailment.”

<snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/2013/07/08/82e8e968-e807-11e2-aa9f-c03a72e2d342_story_1.html

Add to that that there is only one company that makes the much safer tanker car and it has a wait of over 2 years.

When you combine that with stratospheric growth in the amount of oil transported via rail, you inevitably have more disasters:

<snip>

Over the past two years, the increase in crude oil shipped by rail in the United States has bolstered the fortunes of railroads, many of which have seen coal shipments drop substantially. Canada’s railroads are experiencing the same boom now. The Canadian Railway Association estimates that companies will ship as many as 140,000 tanker cars of crude oil on Canada’s tracks this year — up from 500 carloads in 2009. The Quebec disaster is the fourth freight train accident in Canada this year involving crude oil shipments, the Associated Press reported.

<snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/2013/07/08/82e8e968-e807-11e2-aa9f-c03a72e2d342_story_1.html