Is oil too dangerous for pipelines being shipped by rail?

From:  GreenPeace 

Keith Stewart - July 22, 2013 at 9:50 

 

One of the questions that the officials investigating the Lac Megantic train disaster will have to address is: Was oil deemed too dangerous for pipelines loaded onto rail cars instead?

It is still too early to know if the very high hydrogen sulfide and benzene levels in shale oil from the Bakken area of North Dakota played a role in this disaster, but it is clear that Canada’s regulatory regime hasn’t kept up with the risks posed by new types of crude oil moving in new ways.

Photo credit: Lac Megantic police

Since May, Greenpeace has been warning that the bulk of the tanker cars used to move oil by rail are unsafe. Now there are questions about risks posed by the type of oil being moved in them.  MORE