The economics of moving oil by rail are already proven viable

On Monday (June 3rd) I wrote a post entitled, "Could this in fact be the real reason, for the BC Liberal government, to be declaring they will not agree to the Northern Gateway Pipeline proceeding"  



Journalist John Twigg

The post led to a number of people making comment about it on Facebook -- and to me personally by email.  One of the responses I received came from John Twigg, who has a long history in BC's political arena, as a commentator, and a journalist.

I asked if I could share his response and he agreed.  This is what He had to say:

Thank you for sending me a copy of your opinion piece below on the Northern Gateway pipeline situation, which was about the first thing I opened and read when I downloaded my email tonight because of the teaser reference to a railway outcome.

I could quibble in a few places but generally it's a thoughtful piece and something that was a pleasure to see coming from the perspective of an Interior conservative citizen. But there's always a but and it has to do with this line:

"I for one have to think that moving the oil through a pipeline would be far safer than it would be by rail car"

Did you do any research on that? Did you read any of my blog posts in the last year or so about the great potential for using rail cars to move Alberta bitumen - but to Prince Rupert rather than Terrace? Did you read any of the handful of other op-ed and news pieces about this concept? Do you recall seeing any tweets with links to industry and MSM articles on oil shipments by rail, such as happening now from southern Saskatchewan to Texas?

In other words, the economics of moving oil by rail are already proven viable and in the Alberta bitumen case they have the added huge advantage of infrastructure being mostly already in place! Namely that the CN Rail mainline to Prince Rupert is already at world-class standards and its running rights are in place and not subject to Indian Land Claims or Environmental Reviews - the only items needed are loading and unloading terminals and spaces for those are already readily available.

Safety? Perhaps you were influenced by the latest news of a Canadian Pacific Railway freight train plunging through a bridge near Sudbury, but did you hear any reports of dire effects? No, because rail car spills tend to not have catastrophic events like say the Kalamazoo spill, though of course accidents can still happen with rail cars carrying flammable materials.
But again one of the advantages of rail-car movements of Alberta bitumen is that they would need less diluent or perhaps even no diluent whereas the Northern Gateway would need so much diluent that they are (or were?) planning to build a small twin pipeline to carry diluent only from Kitimat back to Fort McMurray because it is so costly and scarce that it has to be extracted and re-used.

Now imagine if that diluent line was to have a bad break along with the bitumen line and they were to catch fire, which could happen in a variety of scenarios, and imagine it was near a major river or salmon-spawning-stream crossing - you and we would be talking about something far worse than Kalamazoo!  But a rail car or two carrying only bitumen going off the rails might not even break open let alone flow into a cold river....

I've recently learned that there's also a whole bunch of modern technology to prevent derailments, notably sensors that detect "hot boxes" when trains pass by, i.e. wheels that for some reason are over-heating.

Anyway, I think you should reconsider your assumptions about the northern oil pipeline, and furthermore your BC Conservative Party probably needs to review its blanket pro-pipeline policy too because it's obvious to most B.C.ers in almost all parties that the Enbridge pipeline proposal has numerous flaws (the worst feature IMO would be the use of Douglas Channel for large oil tanker ships because the navigation is hazardous and the environment pristine, but I also worry about the diluent pipeline crossings being too hazardous too, i.e. not worth the risks).

I can understand why you and many other people would assume that pipelines are better than railcars because they are safer and more efficient, because for one reason that is also the industry propaganda line, but actually with bitumen the railway would actually be a faster mover than the pipeline and maybe even more energy-efficient than would be a pipeline too, as well as safer. And if you consider the huge costs and risks and delays of building a new pipeline you can see that the railway solution begins to make a lot of sense. (It may be more labour-intensive too, which in these days of high unemployment would be a good thing.) 

What I see in those headlines is shifting values, shifting beliefs, and shifting principles.

“bc liberals, christy clark, shift to right”

Type those words into your nearest Google Search Engine, and immediately you will get a number of media releases and story titles pop up. 

If you weren’t already aware, here’s one thing you should know.  With the search engines -- like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc -- things don’t just ‘pop up’ without there being the written word.  And for there to be the written word, there has to be change, or a spark of something different, being talked about and discussed.

BC Premier Clark, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper

For example, the Globe and Mail on January 15th had a story headlined, “Clark flirtation with the right predictable, dangerous”.

A couple days earlier a story came out in the Vancouver Sun; “Hockey game helps Clark punctuate a right-wing shift”

Three days ago the Globe and Mail had another story that came up using the same search ingredients … “For BC's Liberal Premier, Harper conservatism the key to success”

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Here’s another one, this time from Yahoo News Canada … “Stephen Harper helps BC's Christy Clark appear more conservative”

What I see in those headlines is shifting values, shifting beliefs, and shifting principles.  I have to say, given that; I would find it a bit disconcerting to be a member of the BC Liberal Party right now.  After all how would you know, from one week to the next, what direction the party is taking?

When the BC Liberals emerged from the political desert, led by Gordon Wilson, they seemed to have a tilt to the lift of the political spectrum.  When Gordon Campbell ousted Wilson from the leadership of the party, the Liberals took a swing in the other direction, and for several years became what many would consider to be a fiscally conservative party and government.

This week in BC Political News

Another week has passed … and along with it came many stories regarding, and around, politics in British Columbia.   Among them has been the on-going saga of problems with Community Living BC … last week’s Angus Reed poll … questions about what is and will be acceptable in BC’s off-share tourism marketing … the impact of the federal crime bill on BC … and much more.

Here are some of the stories that made the news this past week.

No home for man, in jail 7 months -- Community Living unable to find place for 19-year-old with developmental disabilities       Victoria Times Colonist

… said jail is becoming the default home for disabled young people when there is no support in the community. "Basically we're using jail as the services for him," she said. "CLBC has not been able to find a placement for him."  …  said she fears for the safety of the young man, who has the developmental age of a six-year-old child and is vulnerable to abuse in the criminal justice system … said the government is paying far more to keep the man behind bars than it would cost to care for him in the community, and officials could be at risk if he comes to harm …

Poll delivers bad news to Clark and Liberals   BC Local News

... people often say they support parties with limited chances of success between elections, before returning to the fold … several things might make this different ... Cummins the main one.  He’s an experienced, skilled campaigner, as shown by his six successful campaigns to be an MP … attracted others with experience and knows how to do the basic stuff that other fledgling political efforts tend to mess up … been quick off the mark and effective in issuing news releases critiquing the Clark government … Cummins has a chance, with some credible candidates, to make a pitch to voters who aren’t happy with either of the two main parties, a significant group these days..

De Patie killer violates parole – again  BC Local News
… Doug De Patie, whose 24-year-old son Grant was killed by Pratt in 2005, did not expect Pratt to last long outside prison.  "He is not ready for the outside world," said De Patie, who was informed that Pratt missed his 8 p.m. curfew Saturday.  "He is making a mockery of the parole system. He is not showing any remorse. He is not showing any respect for the loss of Grant."