Salon.com > Keystone XL pipeline

The truth about Keystone

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 19:36:00 +0000

When President Obama announced his support for the southern half of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline last week in Cushing, Okla., it was a blow to the environmental groups that had worked to stop the pipeline from going forward and succeeded in delaying approval of its northern half. In particular, Obama's statement that his administration had already approved “enough new oil and gas pipelines to encircle the earth” seemed intended to remind anti-pipeline campaigners that Keystone XL is just one of many pipelines with the potential to transport Canadian tar sands oil to the United States, and TransCanada just one of many players in the energy game.

Cushing was a particularly appropriate setting to convey that message: It's the crossroads for much of the nation’s oil and gas infrastructure, and inadequate pipeline capacity has made the town a bottleneck for fossil fuels, particularly with the recent influx of oil coming from Alberta. At any given time, between 30 and 40 million gallons of oil sit there, awaiting transport to Midwestern or Gulf Coast refineries. This means that the chunk of the pipeline that connects Cushing's surplus to refineries along the Gulf Coast — the chunk of the project that’s moving forward — is the one that TransCanada really cares about in the short term.

Keystone pipeline will spill, study predicts

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Republicans have sought to frame the Keystone XL pipeline as a job-creating project being thwarted by “radical environmentalists.” Is it? A new Cornell University study claims that the pipeline could actually have a negative impact on the economies of the states it would pass through.

“In the national debate, job creation has been set alongside environmental concerns in a rigid either-or fashion," says Sean Sweeney, one of the study’s authors, "But oil spills also kill jobs, they consume resources, they have an impact on health, and can also lead to a lower quality of life.”

The range of estimates of jobs vary widely. TransCanada claims the pipeline will create 20,000 jobs. A State Department report estimates that only 20 permanent operating jobs would be created in the six states along the pipeline route. By comparison, those same states are home to robust agricultural, ranching and tourist industries that are dependent on water and vulnerable to environmental contamination. Across the six states agriculture employs 571,000 workers and tourism 780,000; the total revenue from those sectors, respectively, is $76.3 billion and $67 billion.

Surprise: Bush backs Keystone pipeline

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 23:09:00 +0000

Unemployment is down, consumer confidence is up, the GOP is waging a crazy, unpopular jihad against contraception, and its presidential candidates get less popular as the primary season continues. So blaming President Obama for rising gas prices has become the party's new strategy.

The problem is, there's nothing any president can do to make gas prices go down, and Mitt Romney, at least, admitted as much on Fox today. That won't stop him and his rivals from dishonestly insisting the president is to blame. They continue to insist that the president's refusal to drill for oil on every square inch of land or sea that may harbor it, and to green light the environmentally disastrous and economically questionable Keystone XL pipeline, is to blame for the pain at the pump.

Former President George W. Bush even made a rare jump back into American politics this week, telling the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers conference that building the Keystone XL pipeline is a "no brainer." He should know.

Pipeline foes beat back bogus gas price claims

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 15:30:00 +0000

Ever since President Obama delayed the decision to grant TransCanada a permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline pending further environmental review back in January, Republicans have been cooking up various schemes to force the project’s approval. A few weeks ago, Republican leaders stuck Keystone mandates into both the House and Senate drafts of the transportation bill. In response, anti-pipeline activists kicked into high gear and mobilized supporters to send over 800,000 messages to their representatives within 24 hours, and the president threatened to veto any bill containing a Keystone rider.

The House’s transportation bill is on the rocks, but the Senate’s version is moving along, and the pro-Keystone amendment sponsored by John Hoeven, R-N.D., went up for a vote yesterday. The Hoeven amendment would have bypassed the need for presidential approval, using Congress’ constitutional power to regulate international commerce to skip the review process and green-light the pipeline immediately. The amendment failed in a close vote Thursday afternoon: a majority of senators, including 11 Democrats, voted in favor, but the 56 votes it garnered were just shy of the 60 needed to pass.

Trench warfare rages over Keystone pipeline

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:30:00 +0000

When the Obama administration announced last month that the Keystone pipeline project would be delayed pending a more thorough environmental review of its impacts, Keystone's opponents celebrated, but warned that the fight was far from over. Sure enough, pipeline politics remain front-and-center as those in favor of the pipeline seek to circumvent the longer review process while its opponents struggle to fend off attacks on their tenuous victory. The past few weeks have seen a burst of legislative maneuvering as Republicans seek a way to rubber-stamp the pipeline without the president’s approval.

The maneuvering is intense because the struggle over the 1,600-mile proposed pipeline has become a proxy battle in a larger war over climate change, corporate influence and the legacy of the Obama administration. Both sides agree that the fate of Keystone XL will influence more than just whether oil is transported from the tar sands of central Canada to the United States. It will signal whether the U.S. is moving away from the carbon-fueled economy or embracing it anew.

Obama punts the Keystone pipeline

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:57:00 +0000

Dead or alive, the Keystone XL pipeline now runs through the heartland of American politics.

The Obama administration announced today that it has rejected the proposed 1,700-mile pipeline that would link the tar sands of Alberta, where crude oil is extracted, with U.S. refineries along the Gulf. Republicans are promising to step up their efforts to build the pipeline, which was largely unknown to the public just six months ago.

The decision isn't exactly a surprise. Obama has repeatedly made clear that he would not approve any attempts to force the pipeline through without an adequate environmental review. The State Department had also stated that it would not approve the pipeline if the time frame for the review was rushed, warning in December that the deadline imposed by Congress would “compromise the process.” Nevertheless, House Republicans inserted a provision into the payroll bill passed last month requiring the administration to reach a decision on the pipeline by Feb. 21^.

Pipeline installed on Capitol Hill

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 23:13:00 +0000

The controversy over the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline intensified Saturday when the Senate voted to approve a bill extending unemployment benefits and the payroll tax holiday that also included a rider that force the president to make a decision on the controversial Keystone pipeline in 60 days instead of allowing for the lengthier review of health and environmental impacts that President Obama mandated last month. But no matter how the tax holiday maneuvering turns out, the environmental movement has achieved a victory by injecting the issue into the heart of the Washington political debate.

The Republican leadership is seeking to portray the environmental and health review of the Keystone project as a capitulation to fringe interests. Newt Gingrich described the pipeline opponents as “left-wing environmental extremists in San Francisco,” while Mitch McConnell said the president shouldn’t “let a few radical environmentalists stand in the way” of a pipeline Republicans claim would create 20,000 jobs.

Big Oil and Canada thwarted U.S. carbon standards

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:05:00 +0000

When President Barack Obama decided in early November to delay a decision on TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline until after the next election, America's environmental movement celebrated one of its biggest victories in recent memory. And no doubt the news came as a blow to Alberta's tar sands industry, and to Canada's oft-stated dream of becoming the next global energy superpower.

But behind activists' jubilation lurked a somber reality, an untold story with much wider implications. The broader fight to reform Alberta's tar sands, the one which actually stood a chance of breaking America's addiction to the continent's most polluting road fuel, has been quietly abandoned over the past several years. For that we can thank the planet's richest oil companies and their Canadian government allies, who've together waged a stealthy war against President Obama's climate change ambitions.

Obama’s unwinnable payroll tax cut fight

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:08:00 +0000

With barely more than two weeks left to go in 2012, it is only fitting that Congressional Republicans and Democrats are once again engaged in doing what they do best: playing politics with the economy. The current fight over extending a payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits is just one more installment in the nation's least favorite reality TV show: Partisan Gridlock.

Both sides more or less agree that it would be a bad idea to raise taxes and cut benefits during a weak economy -- the question is what kind of pound of flesh will be extracted in exchange for a deal. Democrats want to pay for the extensions by taxing millionaires. Republicans want to pay for the measures by scooping money out of Obama's priorities, such as health care reform, while pursuing their own agenda -- gutting EPA regulations, getting the Keystone XL pipeline built, making it harder for poor women in Washington D.C. to get an abortion.

Keystone pipeline as GOP poison pill

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:14:00 +0000

Ever since the Obama administration announced it would delay its final decision on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline until 2013, Republicans in Congress have been plotting ways to get around the lengthier review process ordered by the president, which would include a rigorous assessment of health and environmental impacts by the State Department.

Last Wednesday, a group of Republican senators, including Nebraska Sen. Mike Johanns, co -sponsored a bill that would fast-track the pipeline, requiring President Obama to issue a decision on the pipeline within the next 60 days and precluding a more in-depth review of its impacts. Now, Nebraska Rep. Lee Terry, with support from House Speaker John Boehner, is seeking to attach a provision that would force a quick decision on the pipeline to a bill designed to extend unemployment benefits and payroll tax cuts, which are currently set to expire Jan. 1 of next year.

Keystone XL splits unions and Occupy Wall Street

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:30:00 +0000

Occupy Wall Street is getting another lesson in the hazards of running an open-source movement.

Late last week, an association of construction unions partnered with the oil and gas industry to launch a campaign that uses the rhetoric of Occupy and the 99 percent to push for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. That project, of course, is the subject of intense opposition by environmentalists who argue that it would be a disaster for climate change; thousands of protesters formed a human chain around the White House over the weekend to urge Obama to reject the pipeline proposal.

Many within the Occupy movement also oppose the Keystone project and are now taking steps to distance themselves from the new labor-backed pro-Keystone campaign.

The new campaign, funded by America's Building Trades Unions and the Oil & Natural Gas Industry Labor-Management Committee, launched late last week with ads in Capitol Hill newspapers, radio ads in markets along the proposed pipeline route, and a website, JobsForThe99.com. It was first reported by FireDogLake.

The evil twin of the Keystone XL oil pipeline

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 15:59:00 +0000

VANCOUVER, Canada – U.S. opponents of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline should take take note: One of the greatest weaknesses of the proposed 1,980 mile-long pipeline from Canada’s tar sand fields to refineries in Texas actually lies in British Columbia on Canada’s west coast.

That's where a second pipeline (“Northern Gateway”) could link the tar sands of central Canada to coastal British Columbia. The U.S. State Department has accepted assertions that the production of heavy oil will increase regardless of whether Keystone XL is built, because the Northern Gateway pipeline would bring oil for shipment to China. Denying permission for Keystone XL would not promote the U.S. national interest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the State Department says, because China will use the energy anyway.