CleanTechies
  • Home
  • Articles
    • Clean Transportation
    • Energy Efficiency
    • Green Building
    • Renewable Energy
    • Recycling & Waste
    • Water & Conservation
  • Contact
    • Editorial
      • General Inquiries
      • Article Submission
    • Advertising
      • Advertising & Sponsorship
      • Guidelines
      • Media Kit
  • Are you a CleanTechie?

CleanTechies

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Clean Transportation
    • Energy Efficiency
    • Green Building
    • Renewable Energy
    • Recycling & Waste
    • Water & Conservation
  • Contact
    • Editorial
      • General Inquiries
      • Article Submission
    • Advertising
      • Advertising & Sponsorship
      • Guidelines
      • Media Kit
  • Are you a CleanTechie?
Tag:

Keystone XL pipeline

State Department Finds Something Worse Than Keystone

State Department Finds Something Worse Than Keystone

written by

There is a famous tale in the Bible of King Solomon’s wisdom. When confronted with two women claiming to be the mother of a certain baby, the wise king proposed cutting the baby in half, and giving half to each. When one woman refused, he gave her the baby, since it was clear to him that she must be the real mother.

A State Department report, published recently, after poring over the mountains of data pertaining to the Keystone XL pipeline, in hopes of finding a clear signal to resolve this difficult decision, announced a finding that more people would likely die from spills if the tar sands oil is transported by train, than if the pipeline is completed. That’s because oil train spills occur even more frequently than pipeline spills. Rail is also more expensive. So, one might surmise, as Coral Davenport suggests in the NY Times, that if King Solomon were alive today, he would say that if we care at all about all those people living besides railroad lines, whose lives are about to become a game of Russian roulette, we would go ahead and approve the pipeline.

Except, of course, that tar sands oil is not a baby—unless of course, you count another illustrious literary character, the Tar Baby, that concoction that old Br’er Fox used to first anger and then entrap Br’er Rabbit. You’ll recall that the more Br’er Rabbit fought the Tar Baby, the more tangled up he became.

Delicious parallels aside, we needn’t go there because it’s a false choice.

First of all, the Canadian government, not particularly well known for their level of environmental concern, just approved an alternative pipeline, the Northern Gateway, that would run to the Canadian west coast in British Columbia, therefore not requiring any kind of approval from the US. The Northern Gateway cannot yet be considered a fait accomplit, as it is bound to encounter stiff opposition in British Columbia, which is filled with both liberals and aboriginal First Nations, who, unlike their counterparts in the US, enjoy substantial territorial rights. Still, it does represent a third possibility beyond Keystone and the accident-prone trains.

But, the second and far more widely reaching point is that neither pipeline is necessary in any definition of the term that stretches wider than the immediate concern of those investors who have put their money into that particular slot machine and are waiting anxiously for the tumblers to stop rolling.

We don’t need the oil. Or perhaps more precisely, we can’t use it. Scientist have already calculated how much more oil we can burn before rendering the planet uninhabitable, and we have that much already, in more easily accessible forms than the tar sands that must be heated before being extracted, at tremendous economic and environmental cost. The fact that we have more oil than we can use is the reason why numerous shareholder groups are introducing resolutions to oil companies asking for an accounting of the stranded assets represented by the millions of barrels of oil that will be left underground, when it finally becomes clear to all involved that we dare not burn a single drop more. Those assets are currently valued at close to $20 trillion at today’s prices, but could become as worthless as a Confederate two-dollar bill in a world that can burn no more.

Just last week ExxonMobil agreed to disclose its climate-related, stranded asset risk, bowing to pressure from shareholder groups.

Even Shell Oil UK’s former chair James Smith, talks about the trillionth ton of carbon and how we dare not ever emit it (though we’re on a track to do so by 2040).

Indeed our love affair with fossil fuels is becoming high maintenance. Going  to such extreme and risky measures as fracking and tar sands extraction to get the fuel we’ve become hooked on—is that not akin to lavishing flowers and champagne and expensive dinners to elicit the smile that once came so easily?

In the words of Simon and Garfunkel:

How long can I delay?
We’re just a habit
Like saccharin.
And I’m habitually feelin’ kinda blue.
But each time I try on
The thought of leaving you,
I stop…
I stop and think it over…

As for old Br’er Rabbit, he escaped his plight by convincing Br’er Fox to throw him into the briar patch, where he’d been born and bred. Perhaps we could take a page from his book.

Article by RP Siegel of Justmeans, appearing courtesy 3BL Media.



June 24, 2014 0 comment
0 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
The Keystone XL Pipeline: More Symbol Than Substance

The Keystone XL Pipeline: More Symbol Than Substance

written by

The State Department is delaying its decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, pushing the controversy past this fall’s midterm elections. That removes it from being an election political football, but not from the front pages, where’s it’s the environmental hot topic that won’t cool down.

The proposed project, which would carry carbon-heavy crude from Alberta’s oil sands fields to Gulf Coast refineries, has become the rallying point for liberal environmental activists and conservative Republicans alike. Activists have tagged it as symbolic of President Obama’s rejection of fossil fuels and of commitment to renewable energy. Republicans have termed it a symbol of job creation and energy security, and of “can do” technological know-how. But the pipeline may be more powerful as a rhetorical trope than as a real game-changer in our energy future.

The numbers tell the story. The oil that would move through the Keystone pipeline is estimated to add 18.7 million metric tons of carbon to the atmosphere annually—less than one percent of annual American greenhouse gas emissions, 5.5 billion tons, and a tiny part of the annual global total, 32.6 billion tons of carbon pollution. No wonder that those in the know are looking to new EPA regulations that would require deep cuts in emissions from coal plants and cars, the principal sources of GHG in the U.S., to make a real difference in addressing climate change. Here’s hoping that there’s a room in all the overheated political rhetoric for a cooler look at solutions that might have a major effect on climate change.

Article by John Howell



April 25, 2014 1 comment
0 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest

U.S. State Department Report Expected to Boost Keystone XL Prospects

written by Yale Environment 360

The U.S. State Department’s long-awaited final report on the Keystone XL pipeline will likely conclude that the controversial project will not appreciably increase carbon emissions, according to Reuters.

The finding would not be the final word on the project, as the decision whether to allow the pipeline

Continue Reading


February 3, 2014 0 comment
0 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest

TransCanada Begins Construction of Southern Leg of Keystone Pipeline

written by Yale Environment 360

The Canadian company, TransCanada, has begun construction on the U.S. leg of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, installing segments in east Texas even as the fate of the pipeline’s northern leg remains in question.

Company officials confirmed that work began Aug. 9

Continue Reading


August 20, 2012 1 comment
0 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest

Energy Secretary Chu Reluctantly Backs Keystone XL Pipeline

written by Walter Wang

Well, maybe “backs” is too strong a word. Let’s just say that Secretary of Energy Steven Chu is not openly critical of the Obama administration’s hard look at the Keystone XL pipeline, a project that would bring oil from the tar sands in northern Alberta across the border and deep into the United States.

Continue Reading


September 22, 2011 0 comment
0 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest

Tar Sands Pipeline Passes Key Hurdle as Protests Continue

written by Yale Environment 360

A controversial 1,711-mile pipeline that would link Canada’s tar sands to refineries in Texas and the Gulf Coast has passed a critical hurdle, even as environmental advocates continue to demonstrate outside the White House in opposition to the project.

While the project must still must pass several key

Continue Reading


August 30, 2011 1 comment
0 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest

CleanTechnica.TV

Listen to CleanTech Talk

CleanTech Talk

Free CleanTechnica Newsletters

CleanTechnica's main newsletter (daily)

CleanTechnica's EV newsletter

CleanTechnica's wind newsletter

CleanTechnica's solar newsletter

CleanTechnica's weekly newsletter

Support Our Work

CleanTechnica Clothing & Cups

Recent CleanTechie Bios

Amy McMorrow Hunter

Keith Allen

Tom Scheel

Patrick Corcoran

Christine Bennett

Mike Casey

Henk Rogers

JB Straubel

Lynn Jurich

Matt Moroney

Kyle Field

Paul Francis

Chelsea Harder

Griff Jurgens

Scott Cooney

The content produced by this site is for entertainment purposes only. Opinions and comments published on this site may not be sanctioned by, and do not necessarily represent the views of CleanTechnica, its owners, sponsors, affiliates, or subsidiaries.


Back To Top