About 100-car trains per day are sent from North Dakota to New York transporting Shale. Lately, firefighters have been training to fight fires that can erupt from these cars. Many environmentalists have been protesting this transport of shale because of how many side effects result from when they burn which has been frequent. The necessity of oil and the loopholes found within the railroad legislation has made it difficult for these protestors to make a real impact though.
It's frustrating how reliant we are on oil and how much we destroy to get it. The profit we get from fracking and transporting this shale is great but the environmental effects it has is really bad. I get where both sides are coming from and while it would be great to no longer need the shale, we do. At least by keeping this transport system around people aren't losing jobs.
http://news.yahoo.com/north-american-rail-towns-try-stop-oil-trains-134638749--finance.html
While we do need oil currently, we also need to begin investing more into more long-term sustainable options for energy. We will eventually reach the point where our consumption cannot be sustained by oil alone.
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