This is a bit of a foggy conversation but sticking to the oil being shipped and stored it is a bit different than perception as most things are. First the oil shipped by rail is rather thick and if spilled will make a mess but unless storage tanks are located near the bay rather than well back and piped to the ship that can be managed. That said the problem is the crude shipped by rail has a lot of trapped gases in it and that is the issue. The stuff can go off like a bomb if ignited by a derailment. The rail line travels right through nearly every community from Oakville to Aberdeen as when built we moved our goods by rail not trucks so towns are located around the tracks. The recent derailment ( still being cleaned up ) was about a quarter mile from my house and has taken over a week to clean up and that was grain cars.

Also we are not talking BP here with deep pockets but rather investors that create companies that do not have the cash reserves or assets to cover the cost of a clean up if something went wrong which is the intention otherwise you would see every major oil company charging right in but as it is high risk they will not touch it.