President Obama is rejecting the Keystone XL Pipeline in order to fight climate change. There are many actions that Obama takes with which I disagree, but this latest one brings Obama's stupidity and delusional thinking to a level that seem unimaginable. The pipeline would have transported heavy oil from the Canadian oil sands in western Canada to refineries in the Houston area for processing and export to world markets. The total amount of oil that would have been processed through the pipeline is enough to increase the world supply of petroleum by roughly 1%.
So what is the impact of Obama's action?
1. The oil from Canada will either be transported to the Texas refineries by train or the Canadians will build a pipeline west to Vancouver and export the crude to Chinese refineries. Billions of barrels of oil will not just be left in the ground. In either case, there will be more pollution and more greenhouse gases released than had the Keystone pipeline been built. Transport of the oil by train will use substantially more energy to move the petroleum. That means more carbon dioxide generated and more particulate pollution than would be caused by pipeline transport. Further, the likelihood of spills or leaks is much greater if trains are used, so the risk to the environment is greater. If the oil is sent to China, there will be all the pollution caused by the oil tankers used to ship the stuff to China. On top of this, the refineries in China have nowhere near the pollution controls that the American ones do. As this oil is refined in China, there will be a non-stop stream of additional pollution spewing into the atmosphere.
2. All the construction jobs that the pipeline would have generated will now not happen. The tax revenues that the individual states would have gotten from the pipeline will also not happen.
3. The increase in supply of oil coming from the Canadian sands will be delayed further. Over time, that will result in a higher world price for oil. It will mean that each American will have to pay more for gasoline and other energy.
4. The countries like Russia, Iran, Venezuela, etc. that rely on oil revenues to carry out their schemes designed to harm the USA will get more cash from the rest of the world for their products.
5. America's relationship with Canada has been harmed. Obama did not seem to consider the Canadians at all during this long, nonsensical process.
I tried, I really tried to come up with something positive that results from Obama's decision. There really isn't anything good.
So what is the impact of Obama's action?
1. The oil from Canada will either be transported to the Texas refineries by train or the Canadians will build a pipeline west to Vancouver and export the crude to Chinese refineries. Billions of barrels of oil will not just be left in the ground. In either case, there will be more pollution and more greenhouse gases released than had the Keystone pipeline been built. Transport of the oil by train will use substantially more energy to move the petroleum. That means more carbon dioxide generated and more particulate pollution than would be caused by pipeline transport. Further, the likelihood of spills or leaks is much greater if trains are used, so the risk to the environment is greater. If the oil is sent to China, there will be all the pollution caused by the oil tankers used to ship the stuff to China. On top of this, the refineries in China have nowhere near the pollution controls that the American ones do. As this oil is refined in China, there will be a non-stop stream of additional pollution spewing into the atmosphere.
2. All the construction jobs that the pipeline would have generated will now not happen. The tax revenues that the individual states would have gotten from the pipeline will also not happen.
3. The increase in supply of oil coming from the Canadian sands will be delayed further. Over time, that will result in a higher world price for oil. It will mean that each American will have to pay more for gasoline and other energy.
4. The countries like Russia, Iran, Venezuela, etc. that rely on oil revenues to carry out their schemes designed to harm the USA will get more cash from the rest of the world for their products.
5. America's relationship with Canada has been harmed. Obama did not seem to consider the Canadians at all during this long, nonsensical process.
I tried, I really tried to come up with something positive that results from Obama's decision. There really isn't anything good.
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