General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsKeystone XL pipeline questions I hear nobody asking.
It's my understanding that the Canadian tar sands oil that is to be transported through the Keystone XL pipeline, should it be built, will be sold on the international market. The fact that it terminates on the Gulf of Mexico indicates that to me. What I want to know is why, if the oil is going to be sold on the international market, why don't they just build that pipeline to the coast of British Columbia? It would be a third of the distance of the proposed pipeline. Most likely, this oil is going to go to China. Why pipe it down to the Gulf, and then halfway around the world, instead of just shipping it out through Vancouver?
IIRC, Canadian PM, Stephen Harper, threw a hissy fit after hearing that there was a possibility that President Obama might reject the pipeline. I keep hearing how safe and wonderful pipeline technology is currently. If it's so safe, what's he afraid of? Why is he so hell-bent on running that shit through our country and not his? I am pretty sure I know the answers. I just don't understand why nobody else is asking these questions.
RedstDem
(1,239 posts)the tar needs to be refined before its sold to China...and they're in Texas.
GoCubsGo
(32,100 posts)There is one in Burnaby, BC. Why ship it to Texas?
Finnmccool
(74 posts)Is to raise prices, read their report. We are their only customer because they have no way to ship it. What do you think the P.M of Canada meant when he said " You can't be a super power in energy if you only have one customer"?
Finnmccool
(74 posts)Then till me the Canadians want a pipeline running through their country.
Finnmccool
(74 posts)a pipeline running through their country.
GoCubsGo
(32,100 posts)They don't want it in their country. I can't believe nobody is asking why.
Finnmccool
(74 posts)In Canada west coast ports since the 70s and a pipeline would need to go through a rainforest.
GoCubsGo
(32,100 posts)AFAIK, oil tankers are not outlawed there. The proposed pipeline goes over the biggest aquifer in our country. That's just as bad as going through a rainforest, if not worse. They want the financial benefits of this shit oil, without having to deal with the environmental consequences of getting it to market. (That short of the fact that they ruined a nice, little chunk of Alberta where they're removing it from the ground.) I just really have a difficult time understanding why more opponents of the pipeline are not pointing this out. Why are Americans so eager to put themselves at risk when Canada is not?
Finnmccool
(74 posts)running through their country or that would've been their first choice. This was plan B
GoCubsGo
(32,100 posts)That's what I'm trying to understand. Why do they not point out that the Canadians don't want this pipeline, and it's THEIR oil. Why don't they emphasize that more? I just don't get it. I keep hearing about jobs, too. Wouldn't the Canadians like more jobs, as well? Yet....
Finnmccool
(74 posts)they think they'll be getting cheaper oil and they are wrong about that too.
GoCubsGo
(32,100 posts)I just don't think they're being given all the facts. I believe that many of the supporters who live in the region where the proposed pipeline will run might be swayed to change their minds if things were presented to them a little differently. I think they'd respond better to "Canada doesn't want to pollute their rainforest with their shit oil. Why are you so willing to let them transport their garbage over your water source, where leaks could render it useless?" than they would to the current argument. Or, in other words, why isn't it being asked, "If this oil is such a great economic thing, why aren't the Canadians keeping the benefits all to themselves?" I just don't get why pipeline opponents are not asking that sort of thing.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)You do know Canada is producing this oil from its tar sands fields?
And they love the money that flows back to them.
The idea that Canada doesn't want this is so devoid of facts that it is incredible.
Finnmccool
(74 posts)own country why haven't they built it?
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)You don't know where the pipeline starts? You think it starts in Russia, or something?
The US plan is to hookup to the Canadian pipe which starts in the tar sands fields. In Canada, duh.
Finnmccool
(74 posts)to their own port? It was pretty clear that was what we were talking about.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)The US has many refineries with pipelines running every which way from them.
Actually, Canada is just part of the whole Big Oil conglomeration. We already are Canada's main oil buyer. This just continues that scheme.
But if we can stop the pipeline, it will cause oil supplies to be pinched, and prices to increase.
Canada loves the US oil addiction.
Finnmccool
(74 posts)in the USA farther north
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)We do. The US. We are Canada's best oil customer. We build this pipeline and we get even more fossil fuels from Canada. They don't need the oil, they have plenty. We, however, are addicted to Canadian oil.
That's why we will get this pipeline.
Whether we vote for it or agi'n it.
Finnmccool
(74 posts)oil prices in the Midwest which they clearly state in their 2009 permit application. That's what people should be talking about.
GoCubsGo
(32,100 posts)It is going to be shipped out onto the world market, mostly to China.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)It will end up in US refineries and will be distributed to anybody else who is addicted to oil. Whether they are in China, or Georgia.
Most of Alaskan oil is shipped to the Far East already.
Don't get me wrong. I am opposed to any new source of fossil fuel. But the fact is America is addicted. Even the oily gwb admitted as much <smirk>
We can supply nearly all the energy we need using the sun.
Finnmccool
(74 posts)way to ship it, if they have a warm water port they will.
anokaflash
(53 posts)First we all need to understand the difference between the Keystone Pipeline, and Keystone XL.
The Keystone Pipeline is a 4 phased project, and the 3rd phase was just completed, with only one Phase left, the XL
If you look at the map within the link, below, the XL final phase 4 is the diagonal that runs through Nebraska. The line across the Canadian border, then south through the Dakotas to Nebraska is DONE, the connection to Oklahoma, DONE, the link to the Gulf Coast, recently finished and pumping now DONE.
The final phase, the XL, has been in dispute primarily due to the concerns it may disrupt and polute the main aquifier. This concern seems to be waning. But what most folks don't realize, is this pipeline is over 80% complete and pumping, with just this final link in dispute.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/oil-to-begin-flowing-in-southern-leg-of-keystone-pipeline/2014/01/21/ffe35abc-82bb-11e3-bbe5-6a2a3141e3a9_story.html