This petition is intended to suggest that the President consider using the rails to move the tar sands oil, as needed, instead of the expense and environmental damage involved in construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.
Since, like all oil reserves, the tar sands are a finite resource, building a dedicated pipeline which, if built, will one day be obsolete seems ill advised. Would it not be more sensible to spend the money on improving our rail system so that it can carry the oil safely to the refineries (as it already does but on a limited basis due to capacity and safety issues)?
If the rail option is chosen to move the tar sands oil, when the tar sands dry up we will end up with a solid rail system to "move our economy" instead of a defunct pipeline that has to be removed (more $$).