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Chief Walter Naveau of the Mattagami First Nation says his community does not feel safe after the third CN derailment in northern Ontario in less than a month. There are concerns over the effects of smoke inhalation and environmental damage, he said.

“People in the community were feeling the affects of the toxins in the air — respiratory problems, they could feel it in their chests and their breathing,” Naveau said in a phone interview.[/np_storybar]

None of that fazed Mr. Obama, who once declared that his devotion to environmental integrity has prevented him for six years from approving construction of Keystone, which would carry oil from Alberta and the Bakken fields to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

“The way that you get oil out in Canada is an extraordinarily dirty way of extracting oil,” Mr. Obama said at a South Carolina college. As well, he added “there are always risks in piping a lot of oil through Nebraska farmland and other parts of the country.”

The questioner, a student, was overjoyed at the response. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” said the student. “You are what we hoped for.”

Obviously the student didn’t live near Galena, a town of about 3,000 by the Mississippi River, where 21 if the 103 cars caught fire and exploded, sending a fireball visible for miles around. The blaze was so intense, firefighters could not get near to it and had to let it burn itself out. Reports indicated all the cars were of a newer design meant to reduce the potential for rupture.