Opinion

We're already at risk of an oil spill

Posted January 05, 2015 4:01 am

President Obama opined the other day that oil flowing through the proposed Keystone XL pipeline is "Canadian oil ... it's not America's oil." Fast forward to a recent front-page story in the Herald concerning fears local Illinois communities have about oil train derailments and the havoc they might cause environmentally and physically. According to The Wall Street Journal, Canadian oil and oil from the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota is being transported by rail to Gulf Coast refineries to the tune of 400,000 rail tanker cars a year. There are an estimated 3 million miles of pipeline crisscrossing the U.S. carrying crude oil, natural gas and raw sewage. Anyone have any concerns over the environmental impact of a raw sewage pipeline rupture?

Keystone XL takes a vast majority of the 400,000 tank cars off the rails thus alleviating concerns of crude oil spills in neighborhoods where these trains transit. One key factor in President Obama's reticence in approving Keystone is the fact his favorite multibillionaire, Warren Buffett, through his majority ownership of Berkshire Hathaway, owns the Burlington Northern/Santa Fe railroad. BNSF just happens to be the railroad that transports a majority of Canadian and Bakken oil to the Gulf Coast.

Steve Sarich

Grayslake

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