TransCanada has thrown down the gauntlet of replacing part of the unfinished Keystone XL pipeline with rail terminals. According to the Associated Press:
The chief executive of TransCanada said Wednesday if the Obama administration doesn't approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline his company will look to the more dangerous alternative of building build rail terminals in Alberta and Oklahoma.
President Barack Obama is expected to decide early this year on Keystone XL, which is under review at the State Department. The long-delayed pipeline would carry oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast.
TransCanada CEO Russ Girling said pipelines are "by far a safer alternative" to oil trains but said if customers want him to build rail terminals he will. He said he's in discussions with oil and rail companies.
Coming off a series of high-profile oil train wrecks and explosions this seems a calculated move to try and exert more pressure on the administration.
Shipping the oil by rail would partially bypass the White House, as while state department approval is required for almost any border crossing construction the actual trains could piggy-back on existing cross-border rail infrastructure, and the actual terminals would not require executive approval.