IF President Obama blocks the Keystone XL pipeline once and for all, he’ll do Canada a favor.
Canada’s tar sands formations, landlocked in northern Alberta, are a giant reserve of carbon-saturated energy — a mixture of sand, clay and a viscous low-grade petroleum called bitumen. Pipelines are the best way to get this resource to market, but existing pipelines to the United States are almost full. So tar sands companies, and the Alberta and Canadian governments, are desperately searching for export routes via new pipelines.
Let's see how this plays out.
ReplyDeleteThe Keystone Pipeline would deliver crude to Texas, where it would be used by Koch Bros. refineries. They are widely seen as enemies of the Democratic party. The products would primarily be consumed domestically, lowering our prices.
Blocking the pipeline means transporting the product via a railway company that Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway owns a large equity stake. Buffet is a billionaire who frequently speaks out on behalf of the current administration. The oil is exported to China, so we would not receive the benefit of a stable, reasonably close source of energy.
How do you think that the Obama administration will decide?