NO KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE
The United States must divest from petroleum. The benefits of that fuel over the last century have been enormous-- because cheap oil has effectively been like steroids to the economy of the 20th century, but cheap oil is a thing of the past. Our economy is addicted to oil and we desperately need to break the habit, or risk continuous global economic instability.
Committing to the Keystone XL Pipeline is the wrong move-- economically and environmentally. The SAGD bitumen removal system provides a low EROI, which makes the tar sands a poor energy choice. Over 30 oil companies have been working on this project for decades and the best extraction method they've come up with yields perhaps a 4:1 energy gain *prior to* cracking, shipping, and refining; while using a substantial amount of natural gas (to extract the projected amount of 173 billion bbl of proved reserves requires approximately 7.2 trillion cubic meters/254 trillion cubic feet of natural gas-- 4.3 times Canada's current natural gas reserves).
The overall benefits of the project will be barely noticeable. Even when the tar sands region reaches target production, we will barely know that it's even happening. We will neither experience a substantial gain in supply over the long run, nor a reduction in price; in fact, the Tar Sands project depends upon high oil prices to continue.
Transport by pipeline to Gulf Coast refineries will look very good on the books-- but in real life, the gains are slim and the potential costs are immense. TransCanada promises an absurd amount of job creation, but looking over the actual staff of existing pipelines shows that few actual permanent jobs will be involved in maintaining this new one.
Proponents say that Keystone XL will be safer than "oil trains" -- but it would be foolish to assume that the pipeline would end transport by train (and if it does, did the pipeline just net negative job creation?). A temporary reduction in shipping by train may occur, but eventually the bitumen will be shipped by *both* train and pipeline. The chances of spills/accidents will have increased, not decreased.
From the pipeline to the tailpipe, this "oil" resource is dirty and environmentally disastrous.
The cost/benefit analysis of this project has netted positive results only in the "best case scenario" and even then, the advantages are rather insignificant and temporary. It is not worthwhile to approve this pipeline. The United States needs to put more effort into reducing its dependence on oil and other fossil fuels. The best way to meet that end is to make fewer future commitments to oil, and concentrate more on research & reduction in the present.
The US could be a leader in alternative energy research and production, and could serve as an example to the rest of the world -- the developing world especially -- to divest from fossil fuels and build a more sustainable and resilient world economically and environmentally, but we cannot do this by expanding our current dependence.
Say "NO" to TransCanada's Keystone XL project.
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