To transload crude oil in the centre of the city, or not to transload ... that is the question.
Unfortunately, up to now, it is a question that apparently is not supposed to have any relevance for the residents of Estevan.
The local administration has learned first-hand about the political and economic power one of our national railways holds over our heads and how they can exercise it when it suits their needs.
We don't expect that the debate over loading oil from tanker trunks into rail cars will boil up into a street demonstration or riot, because we just don't work that way. Besides, who ever heard of any self-respecting demonstration being staged in the middle of a Prairie winter anyway?
So far our city administration, businesses and residents have been taking the pragmatic and logical route to try to impress upon Canadian Pacific Rail way that their decision to load oil from trucks onto rail cars in central Estevan is just wrong headed and probably not that efficient.
To date, the oil patch community has been pretty silent on the subject and for good reason. They too, have a vested interest in the process, at least some of them do. They're dealing with transportation costs too.
We expect they will remain mute and by doing so, they are being smart. They understand there are two sides to the picture. They probably don't like the idea of loading oil in the middle of Estevan either, but at the same time, their income depends on getting crude to refineries, even if it has to be loaded just a few metres from their friend's back door.
CPR knows they have the power to do whatever they wish when it comes to their activity on their property. They aren't held to the same conditions that are imposed on other corporate citizens. They have their own rules and regulations and a powerful lobbying hold on Ottawa, so that isn't going to change.
Estevan's best hope right now is to keep the pressure on CPR in an attempt to convince them that this is simply a bad decision. They also have to take into consideration that CPR doesn't much care about their public image going into the debate. They're here to do business and if they must step on toes, ignore public opinion and dance around the fringes of public health and safety, they'll do it and no two-bit city in southeast Saskatchewan can stop them. They've taken on much bigger conflicts than this one, and usually emerged as winners.
It has been pointed out quite succinctly by others who have stepped away from the local emotion and viewed the situation from a careful distance that Estevan prides itself as being an industrial city, so what did we expect?
Crude oil and coal mining are messy, dirty businesses but we've embraced them, so why raise such a fuss about loading a few thousand barrels of crude oil in downtown Estevan? The railway already interrupts our lives 20 times a day, what's another few hours?
Well, our simple response is that when it comes to other agencies that we deal with, whether it be oil, coal or power generating, we have found businesses that are eager to be good corporate citizens. They are happy to mitigate environmental damages, look after our safety, contribute to the community, build a business presence in the city and share the excitement of our growth.
That isn't the case with the CPR. They send a Holiday Train around for a half-hour once a year, otherwise their care and concern for the Energy City is pretty well nil ... until something happens.
By mis-managing and even refusing to share their message, the railway has dug the hole a little deeper, even if they really don't care what we think. They may have won the award for miniature business efficiencies, but they don't even score a participation pink ribbon for public relations.
But then, again, we don't believe they really care about that, which points out the fact that Estevan's options may be limited, but we've dealt with bad odds before and won.
