Natural Gas 📍

More ways for Albany to go bang. And don't think they aren't coming to Albany. At least if they burn up half of the city, it will be a clean burning fuel, with less benzene to clean up once the fire burns out.

The railroad could offer an enticing alternative to natural gas customers when pipeline projects are under increasing scrutiny over natural gas’s contribution to climate change, with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo blocking construction of new pipelines running through his state and into New England. At the same time the rush to develop oil fields in West Texas - far from the nation’s pipeline network - has resulted in many drillers flaring the natural gas that is a byproduct of crude production.

“Pipelines are still the most optimal way to transport gas, but LNG by rail can be a great way to move gas into places with pipeline constraints, like the Northeast and potentially out of the Permian Basin,” said Katie Ehly, senior policy adviser at the trade group Natural Gas Supply Association. “It just makes sense.”

But tanker cars full of flammable natural gas traveling through American cities and towns represents a significant safety risk, the scale of which was evidenced six years ago when an oil train derailed in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, setting off a massive explosion that killed more than 40 people.