Below is a rebuttal to a couple pro-Keystone pieces that were printed in The Hartford Courant. And since the Courant has a policy that limits letters to the editor to 1,200 characters, this makes it impossible to counter the many lies and distortions in long corporate commentaries while also presenting the facts--hence only about half of this rebuttal could even be sent to censoring editors. A free press in the U.S.A. only works for the 1%ers.
It is not surprising that anyone who prints a commentary touting the benefits of the Iraq war, would also prints articles touting the benefits of a TransCanada Keystone pipeline that comes from the same nutty sources.
Yesterday, (January 19) The Hartford Courant printed "White House says no to oil pipeline." A distortion of facts that included insulting remarks aimed at Obama by Republican politicians. Today, The Courant gave its readers Jonah Golberg's, "Obama's Pipeline Excuses Ring Hollow." As usual he creates a strawman argument using non-existing facts, then proceeds to demolish his non-reality. He charges that Obama is "all a farrago of lies."
Even TransCanada's own Web site says that on 11/14/11, it announced supports for legislation with the State of Nebraska to move the Keystone XL pipeline project forward. This legislation, will ensure a new pipeline route in Nebraska that avoids the Sandhills. TransCanada also confirmed to state leaders that the route for Keystone XL will be changed and reaffirmed that Nebraskans will play an important role in determining the final route.
This new Keystone phase is not an old project with details dating back to 2008 as indicated by the Courant. Laws established in Congress demand that all such projects require environmental approval, and consultations with the thousands of land owners directly impacted. It does take time for this work.
Goldberg ridicules any concern for the cost of pipeline spills. However, in 2010, spills and explosions killed 22 people in the U.S., released 170,000 barrels of petroleum, and caused $1 billion in damage. For Phase 1, TransCanada told landowners and the government that due to high quality standards a spill would occur once every 20 years. Yet, there was 14 spills in its first year of operation, the equivalent to 240 spills every 20 years.
The Perryman study used to sell Keystone is deeply flawed and provides no real basis for the creation of more than 20,000 jobs. Jobs already created in Canada and jobs on completed phases in the U.S. are counted as new jobs in the spin. Exporting Canada's dirty oil to seaports in Louisiana and Texas where it can be refined and exported to foreign countries will increase the cost of oil in the Midwest and damage the American economy.
A Cornell Univ. study point out that only $3 to $4 Billion will be spent in the US, and not the $7 billion claimed by TR spin. This change alone will cuts projected jobs in half, since the number of jobs created is based on 18 jobs for each million of dollars. This may generate only 2,500-4,650 construction jobs that will be mostly temporary. All of the steel pipes will be manufactured outside of the U.S.
Finally, such a large investment in dirty oil will reduce our chances of ever becoming energy independent. This takes money away from the creation of thousands of jobs in the green energy field that would be four times more labor intensive.