The application to build the Keystone XL pipeline was submitted 2,000 days ago. U.S. Rep. Billy Long issued the following statement on the importance of building this infrastructure jobs project:
“Americans are asking for jobs but the current administration keeps stalling on one important infrastructure jobs project, the Keystone XL pipeline. This project will not only create the jobs Americans are demanding but help decrease our dependence on oil from the Middle East. It is past time for the administration to approve this project and the important infrastructure jobs that come with it.”
...but is it good for the environment? I suppose the answer to my question is,"It only matters if it is good for someone's pocketbook".
ReplyDeleteIs it good for the environment? I bet Mary Kay drives a car and lives in a house that was built with building materials delivered by gasoline fueled vehicles. Last time I checked my life would suck without oil because I would be walking everywhere.
ReplyDeleteTree huggers everywhere: please stop complaining about oil unless you walk everywhere and live in a mud hut. Otherwise you are being dishonest.
There are many good reasons to say "no" to Keystone. It will not create the jobs claimed for it, nor will it reduce prices at the pump. It threatens water supplies in measures that would make the BP spill seem mild.
ReplyDeleteBut most importantly, the IEA estimates that Keystone would harvest 3 times the carbon that would take us over 2 degrees C, the absolute limit for a catastrophe we might survive, if we're lucky.
See: "IEA acknowledges fossil fuel reserves climate crunch"
http://priceofoil.org/2012/11/...
We are of warned of a potential climate abyss by our most trusted messengers, such as NOAA, NASA, the Royal Academy of UK (SIr Isaac Newton was president), National Academy of Sciences (Einstein was a member) the very conservative World Bank, National Geographic, Scientific American, the IMF. We are told of current disastrous health effects by the American Academy of Pediatrics, World Health Organization and the AMA.
We cannot rely on State Department assessments, if made by employees of the carbon industries.
And Keystone would eventually strip forests the size of Florida, forests that might have absorbed enormous quantities of CO2 before they were removed as "overburden".
Would Keystone "replace" those forests? They say they would repair any damage, right? Laughable.
Even 2 degrees itself may be too high - a "prescription for disaster" says Dr. James Hansen, chief climatologist at NASA (ret.), one who, early on, predicted many of the catastrophic effects that we have seen.
Many of us know the bitter taste of the weird weather out there, with just current warming of .8 deg C. Shall we roll the dice for our kids and grand kids, saying "let it ride!" beyond 2 degrees and more? More, and we might invite abrupt, irreversible changes.
No, taking your kids to to Disney World does not make up for that.
Keystone XL is not a smart gamble.