The oil companies must be gleeful the San Francisco plane crash took the spotlight off the oil spill on the border of Maine and Quebec.
Early Saturday morning a train pulling 73 oil tanker cars derailed and exploded in the small community of Lac Megantic, Quebec. The explosions and fire caused by the derailment destroyed most of the downtown. In the community of 6000 - 2000 people had to be evacuated. There were approximately 30 downtown buildings incinerated and the death count is now five with around forty people still missing. Fire departments in Canada and from Maine, including trucks from our community, responded to the emergency. The oil has entered both the lake and the local river, but at this time the oil clean-up is a low priority.
The oil was drilled in North Dakota and on its way to New Brunswick via Maine. There is a proposal now in the process for an oil pipeline to run from North Dakota, across eastern Canada, through Maine to the terminal in New Brunswick.
This is one of those damned if you do and damned if you don’t situations: the oil will be pumped and will be transported to the refineries as long as there is a demand and there is profit to be made. If the oil pipeline is defeated, the oil will be transported by train, tanker trucks, barges and oil tankers.
New Brunswick?
ReplyDeleteAnd, where to after that?
China, India, North Korea, or Iran.
The problem is that we are pumping more oil and gas in North America and still buying the stuff from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
Sarge
Yes, it still winds up being a big oil thing. I'm totally disgusted with every aspect of this disaster including the complete lack of regulation. As someone said in an article I read yesterday, 'Bhopla, coming to a town near you'.
ReplyDelete