Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:  Karen Clay, Akshaya Jha, Nicholas Muller, and Randall Walsh
Title:  External Costs of Transporting Petroleum Products: Evidence from Shipments of Crude Oil from North Dakota by Pipelines and Rail
Classification-JEL: F0
Volume:  Volume 40
Issue:  Number 1
Year:  2019
Abstract:  Using data for crude oil transported out of North Dakota in 2014, this paper constructs new estimates of the air pollution, greenhouse gas, and spill and accident costs from long-distance movement of petroleum products by rail and pipelines. Our analysis has three main findings. First, air pollution and greenhouse gas costs are nearly twice as large for rail as for pipelines. Second, air pollution and greenhouse gas costs are much larger than estimates of spill and accidents costs. Third, air pollution and greenhouse gas costs of transporting fuel by rail and pipelines are one-fifth to one-tenth of the costs of combusting fuel in motor vehicles. These results suggest that the policy debate surrounding crude oil transportation may be putting too much relative weight on spills and accidents, while overlooking a far more serious external cost: air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. 
Handle: RePEc:aen:journl:ej40-1-Clay
File-URL: http://www.iaee.org/en/publications/ejarticle.aspx?id=3277
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to IAEE members and subscribers.