Applicant for job must be willing to oppose powerful political influences.

The issue requiring investigation is a string of recent railroad accidents that have spilled thousands of gallons of crude oil into the environment requiring expensive cleanup (not to mention the permanent damage), the evacuation of two towns in the United States in one case, the deaths of a dozen Canadian citizens in another.

The investigative question is simple. Is it safer for the environment and the citizens of two countries to transport crude oil by pipeline or by rail and road? The simple metric is millions of gallon-miles per gallon spilled, or per accident, or per evacuated citizen, or per death.

The absence of news reports on pipeline leaks makes me wonder if the environmental lobby against the Keystone pipeline and similar projects may be misinformed and actually working against the very cause they champion.