This is my first diary on Kos, so I have decided to begin with a little background on me and my fascination (bordering on arguably healthy obsession) with the Keystone Pipeline fight. I have followed the news about this project for years with alternating bouts of amazement, optimism, depression, and anger. I’ve marched in DC to tell the Obama administration to say no to the pipeline, in the process meeting Bill McKibben of 350.org, (which for me was almost as exciting as a 10 year-old girl meeting Justin Beiber)… I’ve written letters to op-ed pages, congressmen, governors, pundits, all asking that they explore the actual facts around what KXL will cost the U.S. and the planet.
The thing that put this pipeline project into the starkest relief for me was what James Hansen, an Atmospheric physicist and professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, had written in an op-ed in the New York Times on May 9, 2012:
“If Canada proceeds, and we do nothing, it will be game over for the climate.”
(emphasis added)
Game over… that statement just floored me. So a flurry of research ensued and what I have learned has proved to me that Hansen was spot-on in his analysis.
So why has the Keystone XL pipeline been the one political football that just refuses to be deflated? Why are there still proponents for this project on BOTH sides of the aisle?
I'd like to start with a little housekeeping in the hope that we can all start on the same page. The following are a few things to consider when thinking about KXL:
-Keystone was the subject of H.R. Bill 3 and S. Bill 1. This means that the first order of the new GOP Senate and the third order of the new GOP House was an attempt to override existing procedure on approval for the pipeline and shove it down our throats, whether we want it or not.
The Senate passed the bill with 9 Democratic votes for a total of 62-36.
FUN FACT: The 9 Senate Democrats voting in favor of KXL received nearly double the amount of oil industry campaign donations than Dems who voted against, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
This project is about making oil companies more money. Full stop.
-The current price of oil should make tar sands oil projects a fiscal non-starter, to any rational-thinking person not being paid off by the fossil fuel industry, that is. A barrel of oil is currently priced at roughly $45, a barrel of tar sands oil costs at minimum $85 a barrel to produce (get out your abacuses folks!!). Though oil prices are never set for long, tar sands is a cost-intensive, dirty business. Without the KXL to export massive quantities of the diluted bitumen (tar sands oil) to the gulf for processing and shipping, Alberta Tar Sands production will be a fiscal nightmare. This reality is great for the planet, not so great for TransCanada, the Kochs and Koch-like financiers, and the politicians who love them.
-The project will (and this is a fact) only create a handful of permanent jobs, 35 at most. The "thousands and thousands" of Keystone jobs you hear about are mostly temporary construction jobs needed to build the remainder of the pipeline. Keystone XL is NOT a jobs bill!
-Despite what you may hear, according to industry experts the pipeline will have no bearing on U.S. dependency on foreign oil or on domestic oil prices, And who cares if it will be burned here or in China? The point is, it shouldn’t be burned at all!
-Despite the State Department report released last year that claimed the KXL would not contribute to climate change, it would. The reasoning behind the State Dept. saying that KXL would not contribute to raise green house gas emissions was that the Alberta tar sands would be exploited and burned regardless of whether the northern leg of KXL is built. This is spurious reasoning, if TransCanada can’t get to the Gulf, and they can’t get to the east coast through Canada (the citizens of Canada have already told them to go F themselves), the cost of producing and exporting Alberta tar sands would be prohibitive.
The fact is Keystone XL would serve to move 850,000 barrels of the dirtiest, most toxic fuel source known to man to the Gulf coast for export each day.
Burning this amount of tar sands oil would be equal to adding 600,000 to 4.06 million passenger vehicles to our roads, every year. The estimated impact, in other terms, would be an increase in the United States Greenhouse Gas footprint of 3-21 million metric tons, every year.
-Another argument I keep hearing is that pipelines are safer than transporting oil in trucks or by rail… Again, the real argument here is that tar sands oil shouldn’t be taken out of the ground at all. But as far as pipelines being safe, that is a load of malarky.
There are over 300 “significant” oil and gas pipeline leaks, spills, explosions, and incidents EVERY YEAR. These include 50-60 deaths and over 2,000 injuries. And these numbers could be low because many pipeline spills go unreported. North Dakota alone recorded nearly 300 pipeline spills in 2011-2012, none of which were reported publicly when they happened, because oil companies are not lawfully obligated to report oil spills, seriously… yikes. Furthermore, pipelines are not adequately regulated or inspected, and as we have seen in the last month, even brand new pipelines can explode and rain oily death on us all. So what was that safety argument again?
The Keystone XL itself will spill an estimated 100 times during its lifetime. There is no technology to clean tar sands oil from land or water, so once these spills occur, the environment and people who rely on that environment are pretty much screwed.
-What small amount of coverage KXL or any oil/gas pipeline gets in the main stream media is usually laced with erroneous facts, puffed up oil industry figures, and a good deal of generic political deceit that goes unquestioned, even by self-proclaimed progressives. It would be really nice to see that change, and soon.
As much as I had hoped that actual facts about KXL would be a driver for a majority of Americans to come out against this pipeline, it hasn't worked out that way. A recent Washington Post poll shows solid support for building Keystone XL among Americans 61-27. This solid support is built out of misinformation and a total lack of media coverage of the facts about KXL, and pipelines all over the country. I sincerely hope that Obama's veto of the Keystone bill will be a catalyst to turn the tide on this, and soon!
Please stay tuned for my next diary, which will focus on pipelines spills in the U.S., and the safety concerns for our water and food.
Again, this is my first Kos diary, so be gentle... suggestions welcome!