See thats what I thought , but apparently with cheaper renewable options and the ongoing maintenance and problems with pipelines actually makes trains and shit better . The oil isnt refined here . So pumping it out of the ground so far from the refinery doesnt make sense since we have to ship it twice to the refinery and back . If a truck or train spills oil , which rarely happens , its not a giant loss or problem we cant handle . With a pipeline it creates an underground mess that costs way way way more environmentally and dollars . Those pjpes will have to be dug up eventually , its a fact , but highly efficient trains and trucks can be added to the fleets as they are made , cant do that with a pipeline . We are moving away from fossil fuels if you havnt noticed , yeah we will always need it but in 50 years that pipelines will have screwed us more than helped us . Its also a deterrant from renewables , without the pipeline we invest more into renewables sooner which pay off faster . Its inevitable that we will move to energy sources other than pipelined oil , so why keep investing heavily into it now ? Because big oil and kick backs , thats the only reason , period . edit . looking for the links to back up my claims .