Warnings about the hazards of reliance on fossil fuels fill the news. Climate change, air pollution, and soaring gasoline prices are all part of the equation, and while alternative sources of energy are gaining ground, petroleum is still king. Fossil fuel products are the underpinning of the world economy, and will probably remain so until they become unprofitable. Crude oil transportation is an essential component of production.
Pipelines carry much of this toxic material. Freshly extracted petroleum is not a benign substance. Rather than being a single uniform liquid, it is a mixture of chemicals that vary according to geography. Spectacular accidents off southern Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico are recent historical illustrations of the environmental destruction a transport mishap can leave behind.
Big oil companies are an easy target to vilify, but most people have no intention or interest in divorcing themselves from the benefits oil provides. It powers our automobiles, and is used to create most plastics and other consumer products. In some areas it is still burned to generate electricity, to heat structures during winter, to move products across country, and for many related purposes.
There are few easily accessible oil fields remaining. Countries like Canada are currently processing huge amounts from shale in some remote northern regions, while production in the United States has soared with the introduction of hydraulic fracking, an extraction method that captures the remaining deposits from previously tapped fields. Getting the crude from well to refinery over land has become a major political issue.
Pipelines are still the least destructive method in use. The mind-boggling amount of this product produced each day in northern Canada would fill over 15,000 tanker trucks and nearly 5000 rail cars. The most practical means of moving it is through pressurized tubes, but no method is totally safe. A recent American pipeline break created an ecological mess, as well as a public relations debacle.
Many big city harbors routinely host sea-going oil tankers. They carry millions of barrels of oil each day through dangerous waters, including the Persian Gulf. Comparatively speaking, industry sources put the present amount of oil floating in world oceans as a result of oil taker mishaps at about 8% of the total. That is still an enormous amount, but only a small portion of the entire problem.
The transport method currently causing the most concern utilizes both rail and truck tankers, especially in remote areas having little existing pipeline infrastructure. A spate of recent rail mishaps in Canada and the U. S. Has led regulators to require local notification when shipments are passing. An explosion on a ship is devastating, but in the middle of a city or town is deadly.
The only way to eliminate these issues entirely is to cease production, an unrealistic idea. While understanding the economic need to move crude oil, many consumers have taken a not-in-my-backyard stance, while regulators are enmeshed in inevitable political controversies. Producing oil is vital and profitable to the corporations that own these fields, and for now they are responsible for improving transport safety.
Pipelines carry much of this toxic material. Freshly extracted petroleum is not a benign substance. Rather than being a single uniform liquid, it is a mixture of chemicals that vary according to geography. Spectacular accidents off southern Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico are recent historical illustrations of the environmental destruction a transport mishap can leave behind.
Big oil companies are an easy target to vilify, but most people have no intention or interest in divorcing themselves from the benefits oil provides. It powers our automobiles, and is used to create most plastics and other consumer products. In some areas it is still burned to generate electricity, to heat structures during winter, to move products across country, and for many related purposes.
There are few easily accessible oil fields remaining. Countries like Canada are currently processing huge amounts from shale in some remote northern regions, while production in the United States has soared with the introduction of hydraulic fracking, an extraction method that captures the remaining deposits from previously tapped fields. Getting the crude from well to refinery over land has become a major political issue.
Pipelines are still the least destructive method in use. The mind-boggling amount of this product produced each day in northern Canada would fill over 15,000 tanker trucks and nearly 5000 rail cars. The most practical means of moving it is through pressurized tubes, but no method is totally safe. A recent American pipeline break created an ecological mess, as well as a public relations debacle.
Many big city harbors routinely host sea-going oil tankers. They carry millions of barrels of oil each day through dangerous waters, including the Persian Gulf. Comparatively speaking, industry sources put the present amount of oil floating in world oceans as a result of oil taker mishaps at about 8% of the total. That is still an enormous amount, but only a small portion of the entire problem.
The transport method currently causing the most concern utilizes both rail and truck tankers, especially in remote areas having little existing pipeline infrastructure. A spate of recent rail mishaps in Canada and the U. S. Has led regulators to require local notification when shipments are passing. An explosion on a ship is devastating, but in the middle of a city or town is deadly.
The only way to eliminate these issues entirely is to cease production, an unrealistic idea. While understanding the economic need to move crude oil, many consumers have taken a not-in-my-backyard stance, while regulators are enmeshed in inevitable political controversies. Producing oil is vital and profitable to the corporations that own these fields, and for now they are responsible for improving transport safety.
No comments:
Post a Comment