As the death toll rises and the search for the missing in Lac-Megantic continues, the oil pipeline industry and its supporters are receiving wide condemnation for exploiting the deadly disaster in Quebec to argue that moving crude oil through pipelines is a “more safe” alternative to moving it by rail.

Kevin Grandia, writing for DeSmogBlog, points to a piece by oil industry flack Diana Furchtgott-Roth that appeared in the Globe and Mail on Sunday—just one day after the deadly explosion—and called her attempt to use the tragedy to call for more pipelines “shameful” and a “a new low.” Subsequently, Oil Change International’s Andy Rowell compared the behavior to the Big Oil equivalent of “ambulance-chasing.”

“There is no use talking about the best way to transport a product which climate science tells us shouldn’t even be being produced.” –Stephen Kretzmann, Oil Change International

In her piece, Furchtgott-Roth says that the fire which engulfed the town of Lac-Megantic in the early hours of Saturday morning—leaving 13 confirmed dead and many more still missing—was proof that pipelines were better for moving crude oil from one end of the continent to the other.

“If this oil shipment had been carried through pipelines, instead of rail, families in Lac-Mégantic would not be grieving for lost loved ones today, and oil would not be polluting Lac Mégantic and the Chaudière River,” she wrote.

Grandia’s retort was fierce:

By late Monday, however, the debate had already taken hold throughout the mainstream press. Headlines appeared in The New York Times, The Montreal Gazette, and Bloomberg (among other places) saying that the Quebec train disaster was, to use Bloomberg’s phrasing, “[Spurring] Rail-Versus-Pipelines Debate on Oil.”

“Pipeline companies will use this to point out the advantages and safety records of pipelines,” Bob Schulz, a professor at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business, told Bloomberg in an interview. “It gives those companies an additional point to support their argument.”

Environmentalists, however, were quick to call the debate a false dichotomy and a distraction from the larger issues that underlie the destructive nature of all fossil fuel extraction, including the unsustainable levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases generated by the industry.

“The answer is there’s no safe way to move this oil around,” argued Eddie Scher of the Sierra Club. “What we need to do is to get the hell off oil.”

Responding to questions about the nature of the debate between rail transport and pipelines, Oil Change International’s executive director Stephen Kretzmann was dismissive of the comparison’s made by industry-backers on either side.

“Of course, it’s a false dichotomy,” Kretzmann told Common Dreams in an email exchange. “It’s like debating whether or not menthol or regular cigarettes are worse for you. They both kill, and that’s the point.”