Not everyone wants increased oil shipments on Alberta railways

ALBERTA (660 NEWS) – The past week was full of major developments in the oil and gas industry including an important ruling from the National Energy Board and plans from the provincial government to boost crude oil shipments on railways, but the idea of increasing those rail shipments does not sit well with some groups.

Namely the Alberta Wheat and Barley Commissions as they say farmers have already experienced many problems recently on the railways, including backlogs holding up their shipments.

“You know we’ve had a spells of cold weather, that also forces the railways to reduce the size of their trains and we’ve had two major derailments in western Canada the past two weeks,” said General Manager Tom Steve, adding the government can’t just wave a magic wand and add more strain to an already stressed system.

“We have serious concerns on whether, or not this plan is actually workable.”

Steve said they sympathize with the oil industry, but there are safety concerns with shipping more oil on rail, and it is counterproductive if it ends up hurting the agriculture industry by pushing more grain off the tracks.

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