“Processing the oil sands uses enough natural gas in a day to heat 3 million homes. Producing a barrel of oil from the oil sands produces three times more greenhouse gas emissions than a barrel of conventional oil” (www.billingsgazette.com, 1/1/12)
Tar sands site clearing - Alberta
According to the National Resources Defense Council Staff Blog, the Keystone XL pipeline will NOT improve the U.S. oil supply. At the present time, Canadian oil goes to refineries in the Midwest where the United States is their only buyer. If the Keystone XL pipeline were built, Canadian oil would no longer be processed for use within the United States. Instead, the crude oil would be diverted to refineries on the Gulf Coast, many of which are in free trade zones. Oil refined in these zones may be sold to foreign countries without paying U.S. taxes (switchboard.nrdc.org, 12/20/11). Valero, a potential buyer for a large amount of Keystone XL oil, has informed its investors that it plans to export the oil the pipeline would carry to the Gulf Coast.
In order to justify the construction of the Keystone Xl pipeline, the U.S. Congress tried to persuade TransCanada to agree to a requirement that oil transported by the pipeline be used in the United States. TransCanada refused, fearing repercussions when refineries backed out of their contracts. Valero has already told its investors that “its future business is in international exports” (switchboard.nrdc.org).
After investigating the effect that the Keystone XL pipeline would have on future energy supplies for the country, the Department of Energy concluded that “the United States will import the same amount of crude from Canada through2030 whether or not the Keystone XL is built” (switchboard.nrdc.org).
Onondaga Audubon members Janet Muir and Maryanne Adams at protest in Washington DC
The oil industry’s top lobbyist warned the Obama administration to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline or face huge political consequences in an election year. According to Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute (API), it would be a “huge mistake” for him (Obama) to reject the project. The President must decide by February 21 whether the 1,700-mile pipeline is in the national interest. The API has teamed with 15 labor unions that support the pipeline because they say that it would create thousands of jobs. (Huffington Post 1/4/12)
Estimates for the number of jobs that would be created by the construction of the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline vary greatly, depending upon who is doing the estimating. A posting by Glenn Kessler sheds some light on how these calculations are made. TransCanada Corp claims that 20,000 Americans could be put to work constructing the pipeline and with an additional 118,000 spin-off jobs due to increased local business for local restaurants, hotels, and suppliers. However, this estimate might be inflated. For example, using the “one person, one year” method of calculation, a projected total of 13,000 jobs means that 6,500 people would be employed for two years. The State Department’s final estimate is that building the pipeline would result in 5,000 to 6,000 construction jobs (www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/keystone-pipel, 12/14/11).
Tar sands industrial complex - Alberta
Read what Mike Klink, civil engineer and former employee of Bechtel (a company employed by TransCanada) has to say about how he lost his job after raising safety concerns when he saw corners being cut during the construction of TransCanada’s first pipeline. (www.journalstar.com/news/opinion/editorial/columnists/mike-klink-key, 12/31/11) Mr. Klink is currently seeking whistleblower protection from the U.S. Department of Labor.
