As U.S. oil production surges, the rail industry is boosting its capacity to transport crude oil beyond that of pipelines in some areas, and this increase raises the risk of lethal accidents, according to two new federal reports.
The number of rail cars carrying oil began rising in 2012, and their capacity is nearly double that of pipelines in the Bakken Shale area of Montana and North Dakota, the Energy Information Administration reports Tuesday. Citing data from the North Dakota Pipeline Authority, it says this capacity totaled 965,000 barrels per day by the end of 2013 while that of pipelines was 515,000 barrels per day.
The increased use of rail transport is a contentious element in the lingering fight over the proposed 1,179-mile northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry heavy oil or tar sands from Hardisty, Alberta, through Montana and South Dakota to Steele City, Neb. President Obama has said he’ll make the final decision on whether to approve the project, which has spent years undergoing environmental review by the U.S. State Department.
Friday, in an addendum to its final review, the State Department said hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries could occur over a decade if Keystone XL is not built. The reason? It said Canada’s tar sands would be developed anyway and moved instead by rail cars, which have a higher accident rate than pipelines.
The addendum increased its initial estimate more than fourfold, saying 2,947 injuries — up from 700 — and 434 deaths — up from 92 — could result if the oil is moved by rail rather than pipeline over 10 years. It said the earlier numbers were based on only a partial reporting of accident data.
Several high-profile accidents have occurred in the past year, including the derailment of a train in April in Lynchburg, Va., that caused a massive fire and spill into the James River and another in July in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, that triggered an explosion and killed 47 people.
TransCanada, the Calgary-based company that has built the southern leg of Keystone XL from the Midwest to Texas, said in a statement that the revised analysis shows pipelines are the safest way to move oil. Keystone opponents say the the findings, which also looked at the project’s impact on wildlife, show why tar sands should not be developed and the pipeline should not be expanded.
The EIA says it expects domestic rail transport will continue to increase. “While some refineries are being built or planned for the area, most Bakken crude oil will continue to be moved out of the region to be processed at refineries in other parts of the country,” it says.
It notes new rail loading terminals have been built to transport crude oil production from the Niobrara Shale formation in Colorado and Wyoming and the Permian Basin in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. It says several are operating in the Niobrara, which has access to a vast rail network. In the Permian Basin, which relies more on pipelines, it says Rangeland Energy began construction last month on a terminal in Loving, N.M., that is slated to begin operating this year with eventual capacity of 100,000 barrels per day.