The train derailment earlier this month in Vandergrift of tanker cars full of crude oil was a reminder of the implications of the rapid increase in domestic oil production. It also can be seen as part of the argument favoring oil transportation in pipelines instead of rail. And that argument is tied to the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.

Passions on both sides of the Keystone XL pipeline debate run deep, almost to the point of religious ferver. Environmentalists see it as a last line of defense in slowing global warming. Pipeline supporters see it as a job creator and key to making the U.S. energy independent.

The Keystone XL pipeline is intended to carry oil from Canada’s Alberta tar sands, a particuarly controversial and energy-intensive source of crude oil.

If constructed, the pipeline would complete a route linking Alberta’s tar sands to refineries along the Gulf Coast of Texas where the heavy crude would be refined and most likely shipped to overseas markets.

Environmentalists and other foes warn that pipelines can leak and that the Keystone XL will expand markets, keeping the controversial tar sands extraction operating. While it’s true that pipelines can and do leak, it’s also true the railroad tanker cars can derail and leak.

It’s also true that stopping the Keystone XL pipeline will not stop tar sands oil production in Canada. That massive extraction business will continue so long as crude oil prices are high enough to make tar sands processing profitable. And if the $5.4 billion Keystone XL pipeline is not built, tar sands oil will find its way to refineries some other way, most likely by railroad tanker cars or a pipeline to the Pacific.

Between the tar sands in Alberta and oil fracking in North Dakota, North American crude oil production has increased dramatically in recent years. Considering the goal of making the United States less dependent on oil from the Mideast and other troubled regions, the increased oil production is a good thing.

But the existing pipeline network does not have the capacity to move the extra oil now being produced, so it’s moving over railroad tracks. The American Association of Railroads reports that rail shipment of oil has grown from 9,500 tanker cars in 2008 to an estimated 400,000 cars in 2013. With more rail cars moving oil there have come more derailments, spills and fires. In the U.S., 7 of the 10 worst railroad oil spills have happened in the past three years.

The Vandergrift derailment and spill was only the latest and spill damage was limited. A more dramatic derailment happened last summer in Quebec, where the town of Lac-Megantic was nearly destroyed by fire and 47 people were killed after tanker cars filled with oil derailed.

With railroad transport, tanker cars often pass through populated areas. With pipelines, the oil mostly goes through rural or uninhabited areas. So, if — or when — accidents happen, the consequences are less likely to threaten human lives.

Over the next decade, it’s estimated that railroad shipment of oil could increase from 1 million barrels a day to more than 4.5 million barrels a day. Railroad companies and government regulators are working to improve safety, mostly by mandating new tanker car designs that are less likely to rupture or spill in derailments. But it will take years for the new tankers to be manufactured and put into service.

In the meantime, oil will be moving from proudction fields in North Dakota and Alberta to refineries. Taking a big-picture view, the Keystone XL pipeline should be built.

In fact, just last week, a prominent scientist and former environmental adviser to President Barack Obama switched her position on the Keystone XL pipeline from opposition to support.

Marcia McNutt, now a top editor at Science magazine, says she has concluded that the pipeline will not worsen greenhouse gas production nor will it speed up tar sands oil production. She also noted that no system for moving oil is 100 percent safe, adding that regulators can do more to ensure safe pipeline operations than safe rail transportation using tank cars.

Obama doesn’t want to anger his environmental base,. but if he looks at the facts, he will support the Keystone XL pipeline.