<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Friday, March 29, 2024
March 29, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

Letter: Opposition stalls inevitable solution

The Columbian
Published: March 19, 2015, 12:00am

Environmentalists and big government continue to make it more difficult to get approval to build pipelines, so Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is introducing stricter regulations on oil-by-rail tankers. Thanks?

There’s no other alternative, really — America’s 95-year-old Jones Act, a law loved by Democrats and unions, makes moving oil by ship elaborately expensive. If you are moving U.S.-produced oil to U.S. markets, rail is the only option short of some silly side-trip through the European refining industry.

Opposing Keystone only gave new life to oil-by-rail. The International Energy Agency predicts that North America will spend $2.5 trillion on oil infrastructure over the next 20 years. Keystone would have cost 0.3 percent as much. Most consider pipelines safer for transporting oil.

Polls showed the public wanted the pipeline; labor liked the jobs. The millions of barrels rumbling through America’s residential neighborhoods aboard mile-long trains are a result of impractical politics based upon President Obama’s true policy.

Oregon understands: They’ve approved $6.9 million in taxpayer subsidies to expand rail capacity to receive Bakken crude from North Dakota and redistribute it onto Columbia River barges.

Where was Cantwell when 10 other pipeline projects across North America needed a hero?

Lisa Schmidt

Vancouver

We encourage readers to express their views about public issues. Letters to the editor are subject to editing for brevity and clarity. Limit letters to 200 words (100 words if endorsing or opposing a political candidate or ballot measure) and allow 30 days between submissions. Send Us a Letter
Loading...