There was already plenty of evidence that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline is a really bad idea. Now, we have more:
The oil is the same heavy crude from tar sands that oil companies behind the Keystone XL pipeline want to extract. In fact, the only difference between the Pegasus pipeline that leaked and the proposed Keystone XL? The proposed Keystone XL is longer — over 300 miles longer than the pipeline that leaked in Arkansas on Friday. That means the Keystone XL pipeline is even more likely to leak. Not exactly a comforting prospect.
Read the rest of my column, in which I run through all the other reasons that KXL is an awful idea.
In which, while discussing climate change action in Obama’s second term, I (correctly) assert that 97% of the world’s scientists agree that climate change is real and man-made. Which doesn’t stop my conservative antagonist from denying that fact in his response. Enjoy:
Video courtesy of Fox News.
In all the back and forth about the Obama Administration decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline permit, there’s been little coverage of the fact that oil industry repeatedly misrepresented the project — exaggerating the jobs that would be created and hiding the impact on fuel prices.
For instance:
1. Keystone XL Would Not Reduce Foreign Oil Dependency
The oil to be sent through Keystone XL pipeline was never destined for US markets. In its own presentation to investors about the proposed pipeline extension, TransCanada (the company behind Keystone XL) boasted that most if not all of the extracted and refined oil would be exported — sold in oversees markets where oil fetches a higher price (and thus turns a higher profit for the company).
and:
3. Keystone XL Overstated Number of Jobs to be Created
In 2008, TransCanada’s original permit application to the State Department said the Keystone XL pipeline would create “a peak workforce of approximately 3,500 to 4,200 construction personnel” in temporary jobs building the pipeline. By 2011, now facing growing opposition to the pipeline, TransCanada had inflated these numbers (using undisclosed formulas) to 20,000. Supporters of the proposal, backed by big oil, have since trumpeted these trumped up numbers.
Read the other four reasons the pipeline was a bad deal for our economy and our nation here.
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