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braking systems and other safety improve-
ments. But industry representatives say it
could take a decade to retrofit and modify
more than 50,000 tank cars, not the three
years anticipated by federal officials.
Railroads last year voluntarily agreed to
reduce oil train speeds to 40 mph in urban
areas. Regulators are threatening to lower
the speed limit to 30 mph for trains not
equipped with advanced braking systems,
which could cost $21 billion to develop
and install.
"From the perspective of West Coast
Environmental Law…it's less a question
of whether pipelines or rail are more dan-
gerous and more an issue of whether our
systems for making decisions about oil and
gas are working," said WCEL staff counsel
Gavin Smith.
"The opposition that has developed to
oil sands pipelines, for example, is tied
to oil spill risks but it's also a response to
failures in our regulatory decision-making
process in terms of overlooking climate
change, disregarding aboriginal rights and
title, minimizing public participation, and
looking at projects in isolation rather than
managing the big picture of the cumula-
tive impacts of development."
He noted that shipments of crude oil by
rail to destinations in BC were about 100
times less than the amount of bitumen
Enbridge proposes to ship annually via
Northern Gateway alone (525,000 barrels
per day on average). And, regardless of
whether oil is shipped by rail or pipeline,
opposition will continue, he said.
"To have a meaningful debate about the
transportation of energy in Canada, I think
it's first necessary to take a step back and
address those bigger picture issues. We
can't sidestep those regulatory shortcom-
ings by proposing rail instead of pipelines
and, as a result, it wouldn't be surpris-
ing to see public concern and opposition
continue.
"In fact, the weakening of federal envi-
ronmental laws over the last several years
has, in my view, actually created more
delays and uncertainty as the public has
less faith in the process and there are an
increasing number of legal challenges to
the regulatory regime."
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