Full Title: Safety in the Transportation of Oil and Gas: Pipelines or Rail?
Author(s): Kenneth P. Green and Taylor Jackson
Publisher(s): Fraser Institute
Publication Date: August 1, 2015
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Different modes of oil transport pose different risks, as has been discussed previously in Intermodal Safety in the Transport of Oil (Furchtgott-Roth and Green, 2013). That report found, using primarily US data, that while all modes of oil transport have very high safe delivery rates, there are some differences: on an apples-to-apples basis, there are likely to be more spills when transporting a given quantity of oil a given distance by rail than by pipeline, and there will be still more spills if that volume is moved that same distance by truck. Since that publication, additional data has been gathered to allow for a more substantive comparison of Canadian transportation modes. In addition, the United States Department of State published more recent data on intermodal safety of oil transportation. This Research Bulletin will summarize our findings from 2013, as well as the newer findings that have been published subsequently. In this update, we will focus mainly on the movement of oil by pipeline versus rail, as that distinction is central to discussions being held today with regard to the movement of oil in North America