Isabella Moreno Mr. Lipham Hon Economy, A Block 15 February 2015 Spring Research Paper: Keystone XL Pipeline The Keystone XL pipeline is a proposed expansion of the existing Keystone system, being proposed to transport greater volumes of Canadian oil sands crude to world market. It would transport Canadian crude oil to the U.S. Gulf Coast for refining or export. Trans Canada’s proposed XL pipeline has emerged as a symbolic flashpoint in the complex debate over energy, the environment, and the economy. Pipeline advocates argue that the project will creates tens of thousands of jobs and by increasing the flow of Canadian Oil into the U.S., will lower gasoline prices and strengthen energy security. Pipeline opponents counter that any …show more content…
If market conditions change, the capacity of the pipeline could be increased to 830,000 barrels per day (bpd). The overall pipeline is estimated to cost 7$ billion. The Canadian company, TransCanada, initially proposed the pipeline in 2005 and applied to the State Department for a construction permit in 2008. The State Department has the permitting authority for the project because it crosses an international border, and the secretary of state must determine whether the project is “in the national interest”—a decision that includes economic, environment, national security and foreign policy consequences. In January 2014, the state department released an environmental impact statement concluding that the pipeline was unlikely to significantly increase the rate of carbon pollution in the atmosphere. That analysis kicked off a 90-day review process in which Secretary of State John Kerry requested comment from eight other agencies including E.P.A. and the Commerce Defense and Homeland Security departments. The State department just finished collecting comments from agencies as to whether the project is in the nation’s best interest. Once Secretary of State John Kerry revised the comments, he sent a recommendation to Obama, who make the final decision. On Tuesday February 24, President Obama vetoed legislation
Keystone XL is a oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States, this system was commissioned in 2010 and now owned by TransCanada Corporation. An increased amount of oil from Canada would mean a decreased dependency on Middle Eastern supplies. According to market principles, if availability of oil is increased, that means lower price for consumers. This will create almost 28,000 more construction jobs. The prospect of the Keystone XL pipeline being approved by the incoming Donald Trump administration will have little effect on Justin Trudeau's plans to get the oil to market. Keystone XL is a controversial issue because the different political parties have different opinions, the Conservatives and the Liberals both agree that yes, Keystone
Almost 95 million barrels of oil and fuel are produced each day in order to provide energy and fuel to people the world over. A major component of the oil industry is the transportation of oil through various means including oil pipelines. These pipelines are capable of transporting thousands of barrels of oil thousands of miles per day. In the United States one possible pipeline has caused a lot of controversy and discussion on the impact it will have on the United States. The difficulty in deciding if the Keystone XL Pipeline should be built is in whether the possibility of economic growth outweighs the possibility of environmental destruction. In order to make a decision, one must first look into the history of oil pipelines. It is crucial
The Keystone Pipeline is a crude oil pipeline that runs from Canada to the United States. The original pipeline goes through most of Canada before crossing over the border into the United States, running its way down into Illinois. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline extension provides a blueprint for the extension to go from the origin point in Alberta through the American prairie states into Nebraska connecting into the original pipeline and adding a new line going from the original pipeline in southern Nebraska into Texas and the Gulf of Mexico. Although the Keystone Pipeline provides a great service for the United States and Canada for the transportation of oil, there are some
Thesis Statement: In the U.S, the Keystone XL Pipeline is doing more harm than good.
On the 9th of February 2004 TransCanada Corporation, an energy company based in Alberta, Canada proposed a plan for the installation and use of a pipeline that would stretch from Alberta, Canada to oil refineries in the Gulf Coast of Texas in the United States. The pipeline, titled the Keystone Pipeline, would be installed in four separate phases and once completed would transport up to 1.1 million barrels of synthetic crude oil per day. Phases two through four of the pipeline encompass the parts of the pipeline that would be installed in the United States and would be located in the states of North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, and Illinois. TransCanada is currently awaiting approval from the US government in order to
The Keystone XL pipeline would do little in reducing the United States dependency on Middle Eastern oil, which is actually goal established by president Obama for the sake of national security and economic growth. Another issue is that the out of the 42,000 jobs TransCanada has claimed the new pipeline will create, an analysis done by the State Department disagrees and claims “The proposed Project would generate approximately 50 jobs during operations.” All the harmful effects that the pipeline would have on the environment and the public health is not worth the creation of merely 50 permanent
If we do build the Keystone Pipeline XL it will cause environmental issues. Many environmentalist say that it could leak and damage our water supply and that the project would just expand the extraction of oil sands a heavy dirty hard to clean oil that is not at all good for our environment. Research has said that extracting oil from the tar sands generates more greenhouse gases than extracting oil through more conventional methods and therefore contributes to a greater amount of greenhouse gas emissions over time. Environmentalists also fear that a leak from a pipeline carrying the heavy oil-sands petroleum
In the October of 2015, oil prices have dropped to their lowest since 2008 and Canada has lost over 35,000 jobs, and the value of the loonie has dropped to a mere 77 cents compared to the U.S. Dollar. As Canada desperately clings onto the failing economy, it turns its attention to The Keystone Pipelines. The Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline was an idea proposed in 2008 by the TransCanada energy company, to deliver 830,000 barrels of oil each day beginning in Hardisty, Alberta, and extending south to Steele City, Nebraska. TransCanada claims to bring more jobs, energy security, and benefit to the Canadian and American economy. Yet, President Obama denied the proposal in 2015. Although it was a huge disappointment to Canada, the decision to deny permission for further construction of the pipeline was the right one. The future of Canada’s economy should not rely on the Keystone XL pipeline, because the devastating environmental risks, the instability of the oil industry, and Canada’s ability to expand other industries.
The Keystone XL Pipeline Project has many pros and cons just as any project does, but this project has way bigger cons than most projects this country will face today. “The Keystone XL Pipeline is an environmental crime in progress.” “It’s also been called the most destructive project on the planet.” The major issues with the Keystone XL Pipeline are “the dirty tar sands oil, the water waste, indigenous populations, refining tar sands oil and don’t forget the inevitable; pipeline spills.” And these are just some of the environmental issues, not too mention how building this thing from Canada to Texas; 2,100 miles to be exact, is affecting the people and their land, as stated “this isn’t a little tiny pipeline,
The Keystone XL Pipeline has divided North America because it is an enormous environmental issue. It has divided us due to our opinions. Many Americans see the potential it could bring to our country and economy, but there are several environmental problems to consider and health issues to think about before deciding which side to take. Not only do those factors matter but also how it could affect the lives of many Americans. There are two sides to this issue, to either approve or disapprove the Keystone Pipeline project, and by researching I will form an opinion.
In his speech before the Bloomberg Energy Conference in New York on April, last year, former Canadian Minister on Natural Resources Joe Oliver outlined the significance of the Keystone XL oil pipeline in meeting the growing demands of the United States for an environmentally safe and secure energy source and distribution. He argued that North America’s continued growth as a global superpower depends on how it can meet its energy demands without depending so much on offshore sources such as the Middle East which are mostly in conflict and are therefore unstable. Oliver seems to present a compelling argument in favor of Canada’s energy projects especially when he cites independent third party reports made by the International Energy Agency
In 2015, the world will face a vast amount of dilemmas; these dilemmas range from how someone is going to get their food to how they are going to cook. But the biggest dilemma of them all, is how they are going to continue to get energy to do everyday tasks. The most efficient resources are those of the nonrenewable variety. These nonrenewable resources include fossil fuels, such as coal, natural gas, and petroleum. Someday these resources will run out and will not be replenished for thousands of years. As of now, an overwhelming majority of the energy used in the world today is non-renewable. We, as civilized people, are so dependent on fossil fuels that we go through extraneous efforts to retrieve these properties. The world needs energy to function and sites that once contained vital resources are on the verge of depletion. It is inevitable that the world looks elsewhere for another resource to absorb the depleting reservoirs. One reservoir capable of withstanding the demand for oil are the tar sands located near Alberta, Canada. These tar sands are the third largest reservoir of crude oil in the world and are conveniently located just north of the United States border (About the Project). There is a wide spread debate on whether or not the crude oil produced from these tar sands should be transported via pipeline. With critical analysis of all point of views, it is without a doubt that the United States should cease their delay on
The Keystone XL pipeline will be one of the largest pipelines in the United States if it is constructed. The pipeline will travel 1,702 miles from Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico and will be built by TransCanada, a Canadian-based company (Song). The major pipeline will cross six states on its journey to the Gulf of Mexico, which would be carrying an impressive 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day (Molina and Xiaobi 170). Each barrel of oil is the equivalent to forty-two gallons, which is a more relatable measurement. The pipeline will also connect with the previous Keystone pipeline traveling through the heart of America. It will be carrying oil from the tar sands of Canada, which are also known as oil sands. These contain heavier crude oil than what the United States
With an increasing global population and ever industrializing society 's, environmental concern is rarely given priority over economic incentive. But what people fail to realize is that our environmental failures, and relative apathy about it set up a plethora of problems for future generations to deal with. One of the most important decisions president Obama will face in the next year will be whether or not to approve the building of the Keystone XL pipeline, a massively sized, and massively controversial oil pipeline that would stretch all the way from Alberta Canada, to American oil refineries along the Gulf Of Mexico. Despite the economic incentive present, the building of the Keystone XL pipeline should not happen because of the
The building of the Keystone Pipeline has become a rallying cry for it proponents as well as the opposition. Although the opposing side are able to agree on little else, I believe each see the importance of the outcome of the debate. I have followed the controversy closely for the six years it has been raging. The facts behind the storm point clearly to the problems associated with the project Building the proposed extension of the Keystone Pipeline would transport product that will place vital natural resources at risk in its transport, damage the environment with the mining process used to extract it, result in increased global warming by furthering our nation’s dependency on fossil fuels, and is not in the best interest of the country.