"The Obama Keystone Pipe Dream: Why Building It Will Be A Nightmare"

[ricomsmith77.livejournal.com]

Originally posted by ricomsmith77 at "The Obama Keystone Pipe Dream: Why Building It Will Be A Nightmare"

Earlier today, the U.S. House of "so-called" Representatives passed legislation for building the controversial Keystone Pipeline....an oil pipeline system that carries dirty crude oil sands from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.



It runs from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Alberta, Canada to refineries in Illinois and the Gulf Coast of Texas, also to oil tank farms and oil pipeline distribution center in Cushing, Oklahoma.   In addition to the synthetic crude oil and diluted bitumen from the oil sands of Canada, it also carries light crude oil from the Williston Basin region in Montana and North Dakota.

Approval for the controversial pipeline, which easily passed the House by a 252-161 vote, comes as Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana battles runoff challenger Republican Congressman Bill Cassidy, who sponsored the House bill. Both candidates are taking credit for influencing the Keystone vote, which is popular in the oil-producing state they represent.  Now the bill moves to the Senate, which is still under Democratic control until January, for a vote.  If it passes there, then it heads to the President's desk for his signature.

But will he sign it?


The problem with this pipeline is that the oil that it will carry has been proven to be unsafe for the environment, due to the consistancy of the oil sands.  The main issues are the risk of oil spills along the pipeline, which would traverse highly sensitive terrain, and 17% higher greenhouse gas emissions from the extraction of oil sands compared to extraction of conventional oil. Environmentalists have consistantly been warning Washington DC of the dangers this pipeline could create, but the Republicans and members of the Oil Industry argues that it would help create more jobs and would bring down the costs of energy here in the U.S.

But that simply isn't true.

Building the pipeline will create jobs in the U.S., but not as many as the supporters have claimed, and only for a year or two. The U.S. State Department estimates that 42,100 jobs would be added during construction, but that only 50 workers would be required to operate the pipeline.  This oil would not be used here in the U.S., but would be shipped to other places around the world.....so it would do nothing to bring down our costs of crude oil at all.

So why build it you ask?


Well if we weren't so dependent on oil so much, we probably wouldn't need to.  The world hasn't completely gotten off the grid, so to speak, so we have to maintain ourselves by continuing to use this stuff.

A few days ago, Obama and the Chinese President agreed to a groundbreaking new climate change deal.  Under the agreement, the United States would cut its 2005 level of carbon emissions by 26-28% before the year 2025. China would peak its carbon emissions by 2030 and will also aim to get 20% of its energy from zero-carbon emission sources by the same year.  This is great for the environment, being that these two countries lead the world in carbon pollution.

But of course, the Republicans complained that Obama didn't have the authority to make such a deal and that they would try and fight him on it.

Quoth the raven, Senator Mitch McConnell:

“Our economy can’t take the president’s ideological war on coal and oil that will increase the squeeze on middle-class families and struggling miners,”

If the Republican's think that this is a war on coal and oil and the middle class....


....then they can keep on pipe dreaming!

Comments

[geezer-also.livejournal.com]

Seriously! A challenge, when was the last time you saw the word NOT used as a pejorative?...a text book doesn't count :D

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

I've seen it not being used as a pejorative, but you probably haven't heard of those places because they're not American. And as we know, anything outside of America is just a figment of our imagination ;)

[geezer-also.livejournal.com]

After all these years, I just figured out that that is the icon you use when you are just being silly ;)

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

Of course that's what I'd like you to believe ;)

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

It's a good point. I think it's much more of a pejorative in the US than elsewhere, like how the term "liberal" is just a descriptor in most parts of the world, but in the US it's such an insult that many liberals won't call themselves liberal.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

Same as "socialist". The center-left parties in most countries proudly call themselves "Socialist Party" or "Social-Democrat Party", but in the US "socialist" is a term almost equal in insult to "Hitler" or "Stalin".

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

The Myth of WWII as "the good war" tends to obscure the fact that if guys like Henry Ford, and Charles Lindbergh had gotten their way the US would have either stayed out of WWII or entered the war on the German side.

The Socialist parties in the US aren't aren't going to live that down any time soon.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

That's got jack shit to do with anything of what I just said.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

It's got everything to do with what you just said.

Since the 70s moderate socialists and progressives have generally gone independent or been recruited into the Democratic Party. Evaporative cooling kicked in (http://lesswrong.com/lw/lr/evaporative_cooling_of_group_beliefs/) and pretty soon the Socialist Party of America' chief claim to fame was making excuses and apologies for all of the fucked up shit that marxists in other countries were doing. The Result is what we see now. The only people in the US who actually want to be associated with "Socialism" and all of it's baggage are the National Socialists and Neo-marxists, which only reinforces the cycle of Hitler and Stalin comparisons.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

Well, too bad for ya. "Socialist" means a very different thing everywhere else around the world.

[flaming-goat.livejournal.com]

Socialists are insane no matter where in the world they live.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

Not as batshit insane as libertarians, though.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Its why lefties today have ennobled Henry in songs such as:


And why many lefties rushed to the aide of the fascists in Spain.


And why the sky is red.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

Not my fault that lefties in thinking that their generation will "bring an end to history" end up repeating it.

I suppose you'll be disowning Woodrow Wilson and FDR next.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

I am more concerned with being accused of being avowed with nazis....

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

More likely, you'd be put in the same league with Stalin.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

Hey at least they weren't Communists (or worse) Nihilists.

Say what you will about the tenants of National Socialism, at least its an ethos. ;)

[usekh.livejournal.com]

How on earth was one of the fathers of modern American capitalism anything to do with Socialism? Unless you go by Faux News definitions.

[op-tech-glitch.livejournal.com]

He managed to pay his workers enough that they could actually afford to buy his products. Total hammer and sickle city, aren't you paying attention?

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

The same thing that a Hollywood millionaire or "fortunate son" has to do with Occupy Wall Street.

Money in politics is nothing new and politically Ford was a progressive and a pacifist who provided a great deal of material support to those movements in his day.

[usekh.livejournal.com]

...none of which have fuck-all to do with socialism. I mean he was adamantly against trade unions FFS.

I know that to the right 'socialism' is the buzzword for bad, but seriously.

[chron-job.livejournal.com]

What is meant here by "The Socialist parties in the US" ?

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

The Socialist Party of America (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Party_of_America) and it's various off-shoots.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

I have 5 degrees, including a Philosophy degree and two post-graduate degrees. Text books are pretty real for me :P

I use it to describe myself a lot. I am "ideologically opposed" to many things. Although, I grant that most people use the phrase "personal philosophy" to mean ideology a lot these days.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

The really amusing thing is that even after many years in this world, some people will always remain blissfully clueless about the world (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_ideologies) existing beyond their porch. Amusing, and yet sad at the same time.