Lorne Stockman

Southern Pacific Resources was the first tar sands producer to commit all of its production to crude-by-rail. Today, the company is on the brink of disaster.

Tar sands-by-rail is a major issue in the debate on Keystone XL. In this first of a series of blogs on the issue, we look at the ongoing failures of the first tar sands unit train terminal.

Our latest report presents new analysis that confirms that shipping tar sands bitumen by rail cannot possibly meet the tar sands industry’s reckless production growth plans. The report’s conclusions demonstrate that the U.S. Department of State’s analysis of rail’s ability to replace the Keystone XL pipeline failed to consider key data and evidence and drew conclusions that are both misleading and dangerous for the American public.

In contrast to claims made by Keystone XL proponents, tar sands crude is trickling into the Gulf Coast by rail.

Is it not time, with the threat of increasing political and economic instability and the growing risk of climate change, that we finally recognize the costs of fossil fuel dependency are too high?