So let me get this straight...

[MineralMan]

173. The oil will move, one way or another.

The United States is criss-crossed with pipelines already. They're pretty much everywhere, since transporting petroleum through pipelines is the most economical method. Safer, too, overall. Yes, there are pipeline breaks from time to time. The oil that spills doesn't really infiltrate deep aquifers, though. It's more likely to contaminate soils when spills occur. The contaminated soil then must be removed. It's a big problem, of course.

On the other hand, shipping oil by rail is quite dangerous. Rail lines go primarily between major cities in the US. In my city, St. Paul, they come right into the middle of the city and large rail yards are a commonplace in our major cities. Right now, the oil being shipped in tank cars by rail are choking our freight lines, and it's not just crops that aren't being transported in a timely way.

The answer, of course, is to stop using so much oil so it wouldn't need to be transported in massive quantities. There's some progress in that direction but, for the foreseeable future, we'll still have a petroleum-based energy base.

Given the vast network of petroleum product pipelines already in place, I'm not seeing the damage that is being described as a real threat to the environment. The real threat to the environment is in burning all of that oil and the other fuels created from it.

My opinion is not a popular one here. But, thinking about the threat of massive rail car spills and fires in our major cities' rail yards or along the rail lines makes me think that pipelines are a better way to transport this stuff all around.

Again, the real solution is to end the need for all of that petroleum as fuel.