A new technology has the potential to transform the transportation of tars sands oil. Right now, the already thick and slow-flowing oil, known as bitumen, has to be diluted with a super-light petroleum product, usually natural gas condensate, in order for it to flow through a pipeline or into a rail tank car.
Continue readingAuthor: Justin Mikulka
Rail Workers Acquitted in Trial on Deadly Lac-Mégantic Oil Train Disaster
The train engineer and two additional rail workers who faced charges for the deadly July 2013 oil train accident in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, were acquitted on Friday after the jury deliberated for nine days. If convicted of all charges, they potentially faced life in prison. The end of the trial of these
Continue readingWhat Have We Learned From the Lac-Megantic Oil Train Disaster?
Brian Stevens first learned about the Lac-Megantic disaster — in which an unattended oil train caught fire and exploded, killing 47 people in the Quebec town — when he saw the news reports on TV. Stevens is currently National Rail Director for Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, but he previously
Continue readingScience vs Spin: Dilbit Sinks in the Real World, But Not in Studies Funded by Oil Industry
“Once the oil started to sink, it made things a lot more difficult on our recovery.” Those were the words of Greg Powell of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during his presentation on March 10th at the National Academy of Sciences conference on the Effects of Diluted Bitumen on the Environment.
Continue readingScience vs Spin: Dilbit Sinks in the Real World, But Not in Studies Funded by Oil Industry
“Once the oil started to sink, it made things a lot more difficult on our recovery.” Those were the words of Greg Powell of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during his presentation on March 10th at the National Academy of Sciences conference on the Effects of Diluted Bitumen on the Environment.
Continue readingLow Prices Driving Record U.S. Crude Oil Exports Despite Crude Oil Export Ban
“Are you more desperate to get a better deal when you’re poor? I guess you are.” That was John Auers, executive vice president of oil industry consulting firm Turner Mason & Company, describing the oil industry as being “poor” and “desperate” to Bloomberg. As the oil industry cries poverty due
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Obama Admin’s Year-End Gift to the Oil Industry Quietly Allows Light Oil Exports
In a quiet move in the last days of 2014 that involved zero public debate, the Obama administration gave a big gift to the oil industry by allowing the export of light crude oil. This change by the administration stands to make the industry a few extra billion dollars per
Continue readingDangerous Oil Trains To Return to Lac-Megantic While Town Still Recovers
“We’re seeing strong growth. We’re seeing some large accounts come back. The future is bright.” According to the Portland Press Herald, that was the assessment of the future by Ryan Ratledge, the current chief operating officer for Central Maine and Quebec Railway, the railroad that runs through Lac-Megantic, Quebec. Central Maine and
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Dangerous Oil Trains To Return to Lac-Megantic While Town Still Recovers
“We’re seeing strong growth. We’re seeing some large accounts come back. The future is bright.” According to the Portland Press Herald, that was the assessment of the future by Ryan Ratledge, the current chief operating officer for Central Maine and Quebec Railway, the railroad that runs through Lac-Megantic, Quebec. Central Maine and
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Calls to Ban Bomb Trains Ramp Up While Communities Await New Regulations
Earthjustice has challenged the Department of Transportation’s denial of a petition by Sierra Club and Forest Ethics to ban the transportation of Bakken crude oil in DOT-111 tank cars. “Most of the explosive crude oil on U.S. rails is moving in tanker cars that are almost guaranteed to fail in an
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: North Dakota’s Meaningless New Bakken Oil Regulations Will Keep Bomb Trains Rolling
New regulations purported to make Bakken crude safer for transport instead allow business as usual for the oil and rail industries moving explosive Bakken crude oil in unsafe DOT-111 rail cars. The regulations announced Tuesday by the North Dakota Industrial Commission state that: “The goal is to produce crude oil that
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Elites Agree Oil Crash Crisis Is Opportunity To Lift Crude Export Ban
If the major oil producers see an opportunity to potentially produce an extra 3 million barrels per day of oil in the United States, they aren’t going to let it pass. To put that amount in perspective, in the past six months the highest daily total imported from Saudi Arabia,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Obama’s Argument Against Keystone XL Pokes Holes in Industry’s Argument to Lift Crude Oil Export Ban
Larry Summers, former secretary of the treasury and top economic advisor to President Barack Obama, has strongly advocated to lift the crude oil export ban. And he has a compelling, if not necessarily fact-based, argument. “Permitting the exports of oil will actually reduce the price of gasoline,” Summers told an audience
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: New York Activists Turn to Civil Disobedience As Last Resort to Fight Regulatory Capture
Award-winning author and anti-fracking activist Dr. Sandra Steingraber is going to spend Thanksgiving in jail. And it won’t be her first stay there. She spent last Earth Day there as well. She is returning to jail in upstate New York after her arrest for being part of a human blockade
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Government Accountability Office Report on Oil Export Ban Based On Industry-Funded Studies
Earlier this year, at CERAWeek, the must-attend energy conference for industry players, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) made an interesting statement while advocating for lifting the oil export ban in her keynote speech. “This year – 2014 – will be the Year of the Report. Think tanks and research institutions across the
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Republicans Attempting Science: A Preview of the Republican-Led Senate
On September 9th, two subcommittees of the Congressional Committee on Science, Space and Technology held a joint hearing where they spent the better part of two hours arguing the benefits of moving crude oil by pipeline. The Republican committee members grilled the representatives from the Department of Energy and the Pipeline
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Rail Industry Fights Speed Limits, Brake Regulation in Quest for Profits
Earlier this month Hunter Harrison, the CEO of Canadian Pacific told the Globe and Mail that he thought regulators have “overreacted” to the oil-by-rail disaster in Lac-Megantic that killed 47 people. “Lac-Mégantic happened, in my view, because of one person’s behaviour, if I read the file right,” Harrison said. As detailed by
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Natural Gas as ‘Bridge Fuel’ Is Excellent Political Solution But Fails As Climate Solution
“We cannot solely rely on abundant gas to solve the climate change problem. The climate change problem requires a climate change solution. Abundant gas could be great for any number of things, but it is not going to solve the climate change problem.” This statement was made by Haewon McJeon, the
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Oil-by-Rail Fuels Record U.S. Imports of Canadian Oil
In September, many of the major railroad stocks hit new all-time highs. Investors Business Daily attributed much of the increase to the business of moving oil-by-rail. While the majority of the oil moving by rail has been fracked light sweet crudes from places like the Bakken and Eagle Ford shale basins, the
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Air Quality Concerns Raised By Albany Residents Living Along Oil-By-Rail Tracks
Residents of the Ezra Prentice apartments in Albany, N.Y., have been complaining about air quality issues ever since the oil trains showed up in the Port of Albany two years ago. And recent testing by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has confirmed their fears. In 20 out
Continue reading