State Dept. corrects study on potential railroad deaths related to Keystone XL project

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/06/state-dept-corrects-study-on-potential-railroad-deaths-related-to-keystone-xl-project/



State Dept. corrects study on potential railroad deaths related to Keystone XL project
By Reuters
Friday, June 6, 2014 16:28 EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The State Department on Friday corrected several errors it made in a key study evaluating the impact of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, including a understatement of how many people could be killed on railroad tracks if the project were rejected and oil traffic by rail increased.

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The January report determined that blocking the controversial pipeline could increase oil train traffic and lead to an additional 49 injuries and six deaths per year, mostly by using historical injury and fatality statistics for railways.

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But the report mistakenly used a forecast for three months of expected accidents rather than full-year figures, officials said. The correct estimate of deaths should be roughly four times as large – between 18 and 30 fatalities per year.

Officials also revised a footnoted reference to how much electricity would be needed to power pumping stations along the route of the pipeline that would link Canada’s oil sands region to Texas refineries.