Alberta train derailment adds fuel to pipeline debate

The latest derailment of a train carrying petroleum productsthis time in Alberta over the weekend is adding more fuel to the debate over pipeline development in Canada.

More than 100 people who live near the derailment near Gainford, about 80 kilometres west of Edmonton, remain unable to return to their homes. They've been evacuated from their residences since 13 cars carrying oil and liquefied petroleum gas went off the rails early Saturday.

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"Public opinion has always been that pipelines are the safest way to move fossil fuels," Conservative MP Rob Merrifield said on Parliament Hill.

Before the latest derailment,the Fraser Institute think-tankwas pointing to a report thatpipelines in North America are more than twice as safe asrail.

'By operating more safely, the pipelines should be building social licence, when people look around at the disasters they are seeing in terms of derailments, the social licence for that should go up," said KennethGreen, senior director for the Centre for Natural Resources at the Fraser Institute.

EvenBritish Columbia Premier Christy Clark, who has raised concerns over the proposedNorthern Gateway pipelinebecause of safety, acknowledges the advantages of pipelines over trains.

"We see more spills and more environmental issues as a result of it,so I'vealways said that pipelines are safer than rail," saidClark.

Alberta's growing oilsands industry is using more trains because existingpipelinesare running out of room.Fouryears ago, trains carried 10,000 barrels of crude oil each day. Now, they are carrying 175,000 barrels a day.

Not everyone, however, thinks Alberta's train wreck or the Lac-Mgantic rail disaster in July will sway the public towardpipelines.

Environmental economist Andrew Leach of the University of Alberta says that's because people are getting nervous about accidents in the oil industry as a whole.

I think they are going to say, Why is it again we have to transport this oil, and why are we exposing ourselves to this risk?

The federal Conservative government has linked economic growth to getting oil and gas to new markets, and federal Transportation Minister Lisa Raitt has promised tougher rules.

Derailmentsdo happen and pipeline leaksdo happen. Our job is to make sure we have the rules and the [regulations]make it as safe as possible," Raitt said.

The government has already put more money into rail safety and increased fines. It's also promising new safety measures for both pipelines and rail companies that carry hazardous goods, but there are few details about when that's going to happen.