Oil by Rail

A hard cap on oilsands emissions that became part of Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s climate change plan was the product of secret negotiations between four top oilsands companies and four environmental organizations, the Financial Post has learned.

The companies agreed to the cap in exchange for the environmental groups backing down on opposition to oil export pipelines, but the deal left other players on the sidelines, and that has created a deep division in Canada’s oil and gas sector.

[Webpage editor's note: One business writer who doesn't let the hype obscure the facts.]

ROME -- Beware environmental announcements that the oil industry likes, and the Alberta oil industry certainly liked Alberta Premier Rachel Notley's response to her province's delinquent status on the climate file.

How times have changed in 2015. Just days away from the Paris climate conference, Prime Minister Trudeau met with the Premiers to talk about working together to make Canada a leader on climate. Compare this to PM Harper, who never met with the Premiers, championed the oil and gas industry, and if anything was a disruptive force in global climate negotiations. And leading the march to Paris?

When oil trains derail we all pay the price. How close are you and your family to a disaster waiting to happen? Click the link below to find out and take action.

http://explosive-crude-by-rail.org/?utm_source=email%20signature&utm_med...

CALGARY - Now that the Keystone XL pipeline has been rejected, it's not a foregone conclusion that much of the 830,000 barrels a day that would have flowed through it will move on trains instead, industry watchers say.

"I think that rail certainly will play a part, but a lot has to do what happens to the price of crude and happens to oilsands projects," said Dirk Lever, an analyst at AltaCorp. Capital.

Proponents of Keystone XL and similar proposals frequently trumpeted the benefits of moving crude by pipeline over rail — safety-wise, economically and environmentally.

Suncor Refinery outside of Fort McMurray with the Syncrude Refinery visible in the background. Photo by Colin O'Connor, Greenpeace.

Alberta and its oil sands needs to be the focus of the Trudeau government's climate action if it is serious about helping limit dangerous planetary warming to two degrees this century, warned a national group of environmental thinkers.

A Canadian Pacific freight train carrying crude oil through Wisconsin derailed on Sunday, knocking 13 cars off the tracks, spilling oil and leading 35 homes to be evacuated, in the state's second derailment in two days.

No one was injured in the 2 p.m. incident in Watertown, about 80 kilometres west of Milwaukee, and workers stopped the leak, which company spokesman Martin Cej described as minor.

Late Sunday night, the company said 35 homes had been evacuated as a precaution, and that it had reserved hotel rooms for the families who lived in them.

Well, fellow friends of freedom of the press, what now?