President Obama is stuck in a moral tar pit. Any day form now he has to decide the future of the £7bn oil pipeline - the Keystone XL - that, if approved, will run from Alberta in Canada to oil refineries in Texas. The 1,700m pipeline is to be built by oil giant TransCanada (http://www.transcanada.com/).
The positives are:
- 700,00 barrels of tar sands oil pumped into the US everyday, increasing energy security and decreasing dependence.
- Supporters argue that Obama would be crazy to miss this chance to reduce the US's energy dependency on a global oil market threatened by wars and revolutions.
- The pipeline would also boost employment, generating 2,000 jobs and constructing could add a further 118,000.
The negatives are:
- The environmental impact; the tar sand process uses far more energy than normal oil production.
- TransCanada has a dismal safety record and if built the pipeline would run across 1,500 US rivers and the nation's largest aquifer
Further reading:
http://www.keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/clientsite/keystonexl.nsf?Open
http://www.economist.com/node/21530988
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/23/tar-sands-keystone-xl-climate
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/sep/28/keystone-xl-pipeline-protest-canada
http://www.tarsandsaction.org/
http://www.economist.com/node/21538775?fsrc=rss
The positives are:
- 700,00 barrels of tar sands oil pumped into the US everyday, increasing energy security and decreasing dependence.
- Supporters argue that Obama would be crazy to miss this chance to reduce the US's energy dependency on a global oil market threatened by wars and revolutions.
- The pipeline would also boost employment, generating 2,000 jobs and constructing could add a further 118,000.
The negatives are:
- The environmental impact; the tar sand process uses far more energy than normal oil production.
- TransCanada has a dismal safety record and if built the pipeline would run across 1,500 US rivers and the nation's largest aquifer
What are your thoughts? Should he or shouldn't he?
Further reading:
http://www.keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/clientsite/keystonexl.nsf?Open
http://www.economist.com/node/21530988
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/23/tar-sands-keystone-xl-climate
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/sep/28/keystone-xl-pipeline-protest-canada
http://www.tarsandsaction.org/
http://www.economist.com/node/21538775?fsrc=rss
