new technology and improved methods extract oil from areas previously thought to be played out or contain no oil.
The Oregonians perplexing editorial on the Keystone XL pipeline puts a decidedly rosy spin on a dangerous project that jeopardizes the environment and our climate and will yield few of the benefits that boosters brag about (Keystone Kop: President Obama bungles the decision on TransCanadas proposed oil pipeline, Jan. 22).
So I agree with Amy Atwood. Brilliant idea Amy! Heck with dirty Canada right next door.
President Obama was right to reject the Keystone pipeline,President Obama was right to turn down the Keystone XL, a 1,700-mile pipeline that would deliver dirty tar-sands oil from Canada through the heart of America to Texas, where much of it would be exported to other countries.
So you are saying the crude from Canada being transported by Keystone Pipeline will be loaded onto tankers to be exported?
Sure, Canada may still give Keystone XL the green light. Thats up to Canada and its citizens. But here in the United States, theres no good reason to back a project that digs us deeper into the hole of environmental destruction and dependence on fossil fuels. This country is ready for a clean energy economy thats safe and sane, and thats where our investment belongs.
Those are pretty compelling reasons for steering clear of this dangerous project. And the economic impact of Keystone XL? The State Department estimkeystone aftermarket partsates that Keystone XL will result in only 20 permanent, operational jobs in the United States and 2,500 to 4,650 temporary jobs.
Water and wildlife. Keystone XL would cross more than 1,700 rivers, streams and other water bodies between Alberta, Canada, and the Gulf Coast of Texas and risk contaminating the Ogallala Aquifer (the drinking water source for millions of people in the Midwest). Water is a life force for species and people, and doesnt mix well with spilled oil. The pipeline would also cut throuPresident Obama was right to reject the Keystone pipelinegh prime wildlife habitat for at least 20 imperiled species, including the whooping crane, pallid sturgeon and woodland caribou. These species are already at risk of extinction.
Climate. Greenhouse gas emissions from tar-sands development are two to three times higher than those from conventional oil operations. Thats hardly the recipe for stemming global warming. If were going to avoid catastrophic climate change, respected scientists tell us we must reduce the atmospheric level of carbon dioxide to 350 parts per million. Today, the level is 390 ppm, and Keystone XL would certainly contribute to things worse. As citizens, we should resist every significant source of greenhouse gas emissions if we are going to stop global warming.
Why does BP claim the Reserves-to-production ratio (RPR or R/P) is 41.6 years?
Obama would rather have the US rely on hostile dictatorships like Venezuela and Yemen for our oil supply that cannot be met domestically, rather than rely on our friendly neighbor Canada. He clearly has no brains! And hed rather appease his uber-liberal allies than put several thousand Americans to work. Fortunately, theres now less than 12 months left in his one-term presidency, and virtually all of his decisions can be overturned the first day in office of our new president. ANYBODY but Obama!
jim-- Fossil fuels are in ct a finite resource. Do you believe dinosaurs continue to decompose at a rate equal to our consumption? Hope not.
Incidentally, after Keystone XL oil makes it to Texas, much of it will be exported to other countries without paying U.S. taxes. It also wont shore up our net oil imports: the Department of Energy says the U.S. will import the same amount of crude from Canada through 2030 regardless of whether Keystone XL is built.
The biggest winners if its built would be foreign oil companies, which already take enough of our money. In exchange, Keystone XL would leave us decidedly poorer on several fronts:
check out the south china sea. biggest oil reserve ever on earth. hasnt been touched yet. ownership of those reserves is undetermined. cant wait to see how we figure that out. itll be the new middle east. china figures prominently.
Jim9953, youre exactly right. The fossil fuel argument and belief that oil is derived from dinosaur remains is old science. The ct that were finding increasing amounts of oil miles below the suce and in places like the artic where animal life has never existed to speak of, proves the oil is a geologic resource, possibly tainted with dinosaur remains in some places. The environmental extremists will do anything to argue their beliefs, including ignoring the obvious. You cant fix stupid!
Id rather have the US spend a trillion Iraq oil available than spend nothing to obtain Canadian crude. Obtaining that Iraq oil was so clean in spite of war and all. And all that gun powder, war machine exhaust and logistics support emitted NO greenhouse gases either. So clean.
I await doing Iran soon for their oil. Why would I want to have Canadian oil so close at hand when supplies from Iran will be disrupted. Id rather have long odd/even gas lines, rationing and a possible recession than use dirty Canadian oil. Uuuuuh, how disgusting. Yuk!
supplies are finite, but theres enough for hundreds of years.
Wow, sounds like tar sands crude is valuable as the cost to transport/ship it appears high. Must be good stuff then. Where is the crude gonna be shipped/exported to be refined? Gotta cost a lot for a VLCC to sail around S. America to Asia as they dont fit thru the Panama Canal. This stuff is valuable then!
The really strange thing about supporters of continued oil addiction is the illogic of its going to get used anyway; and alternatives are too expensive; and conservation isnt a reasonable solution; and burning fossil fuels dont really hurt anything.
flaque, are you saying that the geologic processes that form petroleum have somehow stopped occurring? It is indeed a ct that oil is not a finite resource and is being produced every day in the earths crust. Perhaps it is you that should do a little research, buddy.
oil comes from decomposed plants, not dinosaurs.
Environmental devastation. Tar-sands oil is the dirtiest oil on Earth. Four tons of rock and ore are removed for every barrel of oil. The extraction process destroys tens of thousands of acres of forest in Alberta, pollutes hundreds of millions of gallons of water from the Athabasca River, and leaves vast ponds of contaminated wastewater toxic to wildlife. Each barrel of oil from tar sands requires three barrels of water to produce.
Amy Atwood is a senior attorney in the Portland office of the Center for Biological Diversity. Jeanne Roy is co-director of the Center for Earth Leadership in Southwest Portland.
Spills. The State Department says in its written review of this project that Keystone XL will spill oil, which comes as no surprise. The existing Keystone pipeline has already leaked 14 times since it began operating in June 2010, including one leak that dumped 21,000 gallons of tar-sands crude. Another tar-sands pipeline spilled about 1 million gallons of crude in the Kazoo River in 2010. Keystone XL would transport as much as 37 million gallons of oil every day. Its not hard to imagine the devastation that inevitable leaks will bring.
By Amy Atwood and Jeanne Roy
ludd, do you really believe that oil came from dinosaurs only no other animal or plant life?? I never said that we are not using oil ster than the earth can produce it, only that it is not finite. Perhaps you should look up the word finite
Heck with Canada, we want clean Middle east/Mexican/Nigerian/Libyan/Venezuelan oil instead! No greenhouse gases were emitted pumping this oil, no leaks ever occured transporting oil by sea continents away or pumping oil on/off tankers. It is such a sterile clean operation because it is NOT Canadian oil. As a benefit, we get to support such wonderful governments too. Heck with that Democratic Canadian form of government. We prefer to support despots as they handle clean oil.
At what point are we going to admit that oil is a finite resource that is running out, drilling it and burning it pollutes and ruins, and we have a responsibility to move toward alternatives as quickly as possible. So sad that some wont say NO to any oil, anytime, from anywhere, for any reason.
