What is the safest way to transport oil? Neither the United States Dept. of Transportation or the State Dept. will commit on the subject.
What the State Dept. will say is that the approval or denial of the pipeline will have no impact on the extraction of the oil. So the oil drilling/extraction in Canada will occur regardless.
The use of trucks and trains versus a pipeline by the very natural of the beast, creates emissions. And yet, we continue to see the pipeline, which would be but one more in a maze of lines crossing the country, blocked or stalled.
The two biggest railroad are the publically traded Union Pacific and Berkshire Hathaway owned, Burlington Northern and Santa Fe.
The biggest share holders in the Union Pacific are investment companies Vanguard, BlackRock, T. Rowe Price, Ameriprise and Credit Suesse to name a few.
Given the above, and the fact that railroad transportation of petroleum products was up 38% in the first half of 2012, who is benefiting from the blocking of the pipeline? As is always the case, simply follow the money.
John Bryant
