I worked at a pipeline company but I ' ll try to be unbiased here . The amount of spills is greater in # with transportation by rail , but pipeline do definitely surpass rail in terms of bbl spills . I understand what complications can come from having a pipeline in your back yard , but the requirements of NEW pipelines being built has many failsafes . the integrity plan set up , the regulation required and construction practices minimizes the risk tremendously . From an economy perspective , utilizing pipelines like energy east would reduce oil imports from saudi arabia . This allows Canada to be sustainable like the states , and can manage production , transportation and refining within our own borders . I am not well versed in the economics , I just know it ' s smarter to utilize local infrastructure to allow us to sell a very lucrative commodity at a competitive rate . I don ' t know how much it ' ll help us , but it won ' t hurt us . Environmentally I think we need to audit the pipelines in Canada . But it ' s definitely not as bad as people make it out to be .