Guest post by Steve Goreham
Originally published in The Washington Times
On Friday, the Department of State released a 2,000-page draft review of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project. If approved, the pipeline will carry up to 830,000 barrels of oil per day from oil sands in Canada and the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota and Montana to Gulf Coast refineries. The review did not recommend approval of the pipeline, but raised no major objections, concluding that the project was “unlikely to have a substantial impact” on the climate or oil sands production. Nevertheless, the same-day outrage from liberal politicians and environmental groups was caustic.
The report found that the $3.3 billion Keystone XL project would create 42,100 US jobs during the two-year construction period. In addition to construction of the pipeline, new electrical transmission and power substations would be required. The project would generate an estimated $65 million in use and sales taxes for traversed states.
If approved, Gulf Coast facilities would refine more oil from Canada and the northern US and less from the Middle East. Keystone could potentially replace 45 percent of the oil imported from the Persian Gulf. At $90 per barrel, this would supplant $27 billion in annual payments to Saudi Arabia and Gulf Coast nations with payments to Canada and US citizens.
Van Jones, CNN contributor, raised fears of an oil leak, calling Keystone the “Obama pipeline” and saying that a leak “could be the worst oil disaster in American farmland history.” Proper environmental care must be taken, but Americans know how to build pipelines. The proposed 875-mile pipeline would add to the 55,000 miles of U.S. crude oil pipelines that have been operating for decades. The lower Great Plains region over the Ogallala aquifer is already crisscrossed by tens of thousands of miles of pipelines. The report concluded that potential oil leaks were unlikely to affect groundwater quality in four major aquifers.
However, oil leaks are a red herring issue. The keystone pipeline battle has always been about the ideology of Climatism, the belief that man-made greenhouse gases are destroying Earth’s climate. Proponents of the theory of man-made warming warn that mankind’s tiny contribution to a trace gas in our atmosphere, carbon dioxide, causes extreme hurricanes, droughts, floods, snowstorms, rising seas, polar bear extinction, and other projected calamities. Canadian oil sands have become a lightning rod for climate activism.
Congressional representative Henry Waxman issued a press release, stating “The draft impact statement appears to be seriously flawed. We don’t need this dirty oil. To stop climate change and the destructive storms, droughts, floods, and wildfires that we are already experiencing, we should be investing in clean energy, not building a pipeline that will speed the exploitation of Canada’s highly polluting tar sands.”
Greenpeace Executive Director Phil Radford said “…it’s just untrue that piping oil from the Tar Sands will not have a devastating impact on our climate. To fulfill his promise to the American people to address global warming, the President must say no to the Keystone Pipeline.” But the State Department draft review points out that Canadian oil sands will be mined, regardless of whether the pipeline is built or not.
The review estimates that if Keystone is not built, oil sands production will be only 0.4 to 0.6 percent less that if the pipeline is built, or less than 0.83 million metric tons of CO2-equivalent emissions annually. This difference equates to less than two hours of U.S. emissions, a negligible amount. Seventy-four million US housecats annually cause an estimated 196 times this emissions volume. Why isn’t Greenpeace urging President Obama to ban cats?
If not through Keystone, mined oil will be transported by rail, truck, or planned pipelines in Canada. Last month, the China Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) completed the purchase of Nexen, a major producer of oil from Canadian sands, for $15 billion. CNOOC would not have purchased Nexen without assurance by the Canadian government that the oil can be harvested.
Mr. President, it’s your decision. On one side is the common-sense choice of more jobs, economic growth, reduced dependence on Mideast oil, and a negligible increase in greenhouse gas emissions. On the other side is Climatist ideology. Which will you choose?
Steve Goreham is Executive Director of the Climate Science Coalition of America and author of the new book The Mad, Mad, Mad World of Climatism: Mankind and Climate Change Mania.
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Don’t give ’em ideas to ban cats. Cats have been persecuted down through the ages. What about the rest of the animal kingdom? We all exhale the stuff, after all.
I for one am sick of these constant attacks on cats. First we hear that they kill more birds than wind farms, now they’re causing global warming. We all know that dogs are the real menace, but we don’t hear those views expressed on WUWT… and I suspect the hidden influence of Kenji. It’s a conspiracy, I tell you!
The keystone pipeline battle has always been about the ideology of Climatism.
True.
The fervid zealotry of these people and their newly found “save the earth religion” seems to eliminate all logical and practical thought processes.
How in the hell can they continue to justify their “religious extremism” in the face of simple facts such as below?:
The review estimates that if Keystone is not built, oil sands production will be only 0.4 to 0.6 percent less that if the pipeline is built, or less than 0.83 million metric tons of CO2-equivalent emissions annually. This difference equates to less than two hours of U.S. emissions, a negligible amount…… If not through Keystone, mined oil will be transported by rail, truck, or planned pipelines in Canada…
Surely our politicians can make sensible decisions, even when they are faced by the impractical diatribes of extreme fundamentalists?
Here in Fort McMurray we’re not mining anything – we are cleaning up the largest natural oil spill on earth and making money on the side. The Keystone is already being built even as I write. We’re talking of our own pipeline all way to Canada’s east coast. Trust me, we are working 24/7/365 right now. Our oil will sell despite Obama and his dog and pony show. Keep buying your oil from fanatics on the other side of the world. Insanity comes to mind. While America dithers and stammers China is here buying. You wonder why China is the new economic giant? We don’t up here. China thanks the Obama administration – for Chicken Little and the sky falling in mentality. Just as is Global Warming – a fantasy for children and weak minded adults.
… Then they came for the cats. And I did nothing. Then they came for me.
It’s a bit cruel to these dumb animals to ‘sic em’ with their own baying hound CO2 estimates like this, but I must remind these latte sippers to stick to instant coffee-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/foodanddrink/6759611/Instant-coffee-more-environmentally-friendly.html
And don’t forget critters, sweet revenge for all we deniers is a cuppa best served cold, in more ways than one with that global warming hiatus now.
I’ve been saying those house cats were up to something for years! And nobody ever believed me.
They can ban SUVs if they want, (I can’t afford one anyway) but no way will I let them take my cat.
And my cat agrees.
Just to make a point . Why does the oil and gas industry just not halt transportation of natural gas for one day to the US Eastern Seaboard as in Washington DC preferably due to a “security issue”
(I am not talking about the natural gas coming from Van Jones or any politician for that matter, they are real security issues).
The irony lying in the construction of the pipeline is it’s completion will just about
coincide with possible global cooling …. Climate “sceptics” could have a field day
with that!
Record Low Temperatures Giving Florida Spring Breakers A Chilly Welcome
“TAMPA (CBS TAMPA) – Spring Breakers flocking south to Florida’s typically warm and sunny beaches are bringing along a very unwelcome guest this year – Old Man Winter.
Temperatures averaging 10 to 20 degrees below normal have taken a southward dip into the southeastern portion of the U.S., with temperature highs sitting unseasonably low in the 50 and 60 degree range.”
http://tampa.cbslocal.com/2013/03/04/record-low-temperatures-giving-florida-spring-breakers-a-chilly-welcome/
We’re going to start selling Grand Solar Minimum bringing cooler temperatures to Florida resulting in lower hurricane risk in order to revive the real estate market from our catastrophic housing bubble bust. Think I’m kidding?
I wonder what those who claim to be environmentally conscious really believe in. To a man they use electicity, cars and all the rest of those inventions that have freed life from the endless drudgery of past times. Are they serious in thinking that somehow it is possible to recreate what has gone, a supposedly golden era. Clearly they are ignorant of what life has been before a million or more ideas and decades and decades of practical effort conquered the backbreaking toil of our forefathers. We are so fortunate in our daily lives today, not only are supermarkets full of every kind of food you could wish for all the time, but efficient personal and public transport can take us anywhere we want to go. On top of that we have the advances of healthcare that allow more people than ever to live a decent life despite the threats that once killed millions in the routine of different epidemics.
To be honest the so called green agenda is nothing more than a parade of drivel advanced by stupid people who have no idea what life would be like if their ideas were adopted. I am all for concerns for the planet and our impact on it, yet one of the few ideas that will help reduce our foot print, the use of a nuclear process of some kind, is consistently opposed. Truly the world is dominated by the ignorant and the foolish.
I have 5 cats and 3 dogs…..sorry Kenji but I know which of them does more environmental damage!
Greens working for sheiks? What an idea…
Lets see if I’ve got this right:
1. Al Gore receives $100 million from big oil as his share of the payment for his failing cable TV station.
2. Al Gore is stridently campaigning against Keystone.
3. The Middle Eastern oil interests who stumped up the money for Al stand to lose $27 billion+ per year if Keystone goes ahead.
Nothing to see here, move along…
Hey Ian, there is a way to distract Kenji. If Anthony would go along with it. Get him a little mechanical dog buddy.
Friends have this Yorkshire Terrier and I brought this little mechanical dog home for a Christmas present. Hilarious!!! That little Yorkie went bonkers!!! Absolutely bogazeetee over that little mechanical dog!!!
My beagle just cannot believe how the Yorkie goes nuts at the mechanical dog and tries to trap the little butter bean to the floor where he cannot move. ‘Knock it off would ya, this is ridiculous! It’s not real!’
We’ve about never seen anything so funny!
Look you Deniers, it is a settled fact : Cats cause Global Calming!
Ian says:
March 4, 2013 at 10:58 pm
“I for one am sick of these constant attacks on cats. First we hear that they kill more birds than wind farms, now they’re causing global warming. We all know that dogs are the real menace, but we don’t hear those views expressed on WUWT… and I suspect the hidden influence of Kenji. It’s a conspiracy, I tell you!”
Pure WUWT dogma Ian.
Shame on you Anthony!
Sun Ignores Scientists’ Predictions
“NASA says that something unexpected is happening on the Sun. This year, 2013, is supposed to be the peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle—the year of Solar Max. Yet solar activity is well below the expected level. Out somnolent star refuses to behave according to the predictions of Sun watching scientists, leading some observers to wonder if forecasters missed the mark. The botched solar forecast not only has implication for our understanding of the physical processes inside the Sun, it has possible links to future climate change here on Earth. Scientists admit that no one knows for sure what the Sun will do next.”
“The early peak and shortfall in activity can easily be seen in the sunspot record shown in the plot. The panel’s prediction of a May 2013 peak was made during the deepest minimum in nearly a hundred years, with sunspot numbers near zero and x-ray flare activity flat-lined for months at a time. Recognizing that deep minima are often followed by weak maxima, a wimpy maximum was expected, but not quite this wimpy. Given the lack of solar activity in February 2013, a maximum in May now seems unlikely.
Solar physicist Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center notes that the Sun has been acting a bit contrary in recent cycles. “The last two solar maxima, around 1989 and 2001, had not one but two peaks,” he reports on a NASA website. Solar activity went up, dipped, then resumed, performing a mini-cycle that lasted about two years. Indeed, sunspot counts jumped in 2011, dipped in 2012, and Pesnell is now betting that the same thing could be happening again.
“This is solar maximum,” he says. “But it looks different from what we expected because it is double peaked. I am comfortable in saying that another peak will happen in 2013 and possibly last into 2014.”
On longer than decadal time scales, the Sun has shown considerable variability, that variability often correlating with century long trends in Earth’s climate. These periods include the long Maunder Minimum, when almost no sunspots were observed, the less severe Dalton Minimum, and the increased sunspot activity during the last fifty years known as the Modern Maximum. The causes for these variations are not well understood, but because sunspots affect the brightness of the sun, solar luminosity is lower during periods of low sunspot activity. It is widely believed that the lack of solar activity during the Maunder Minimum and earlier periods may be among the principal causes of the Little Ice Age. ”
http://theresilientearth.com/?q=content/sun-ignores-scientists-predictions
tobias says:
March 4, 2013 at 11:42 pm
Yes. Turning a valve or two to the off position when demand is highest would certainly cause a stir. A little taste of actual fuel poverty?
As the report makes clear, although it is buried in the market review sections, the pipeline will not contribute significantly to US crude use. Its main role will be to provide crude to the Gulf coast refineries to replace the dwindling oil from Mexico and Venezuela that is required for processing into refined products for export. Tar sand oil is only financially viable above a certain price, and this makes it rather a high priced feedstuff for domestic consumption.
It is true that without the Keystone pipeline the tar sands will still be exploited, the demand for even expensive crude is growing as peak oil hits the major liquid crude reserves. But the financial justification for the pipeline is to maintain the shrinking production in the refineries on the Gulf coast which will predominately go for export.
Unless crude oil prices double again there is not more than a few years of viable production possible from the tar sands, so the pipeline will be obsolete within a decade or so.
Unlike investment in renewable power sources that have no limit on the fuel source.
Shouldn’t that be “Canada’s highly polluted tar sands.”?
The plan is to clean up the nasty polution and convert it into water and nice cleanr CO2, extracting some energy along the way, and I assume returning the newly cleaned sand to whence it came.
Isn’t that what environmentalists like?
@izen, there’s a term used by economists and cost accountants called “marginal cost.”
This is the number used to evaluate the feasibility of filling underutilized capacity.
I have NOT seen any figures and it’s possible that even on the basis of marginal costing, the project has only a limited lifespan.
But even a decade should be long enough to make the project worthwhile.
All I can say to Waxman and Radford is PROVE IT!
Your claims are pure sophistry, total rubbish, complete idiocy.
Oh Izen, I think your trying to say that there is such a thing as a free lunch.
Would that free lunch be wind.
http://windfarmrealities.org/
http://www.masterresource.org/2012/02/ontario-windpower-case-study-i/
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/05/09/interior-looks-to-expand-permits-for-killing-bald-eagles-to-accommodate-wind-energy/
http://www.caithnesswindfarms.co.uk/page4.htm
Rare earth minerals used in wind turbine motors.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/aug/07/china-rare-earth-village-pollution
Or maybe you think bio fuels would be the free lunch..
http://www.bishop-hill.net/blog/2012/2/22/booker-on-biofuels.html
Or maybe you mean the solar free lunch.
http://business.financialpost.com/2013/02/11/solar-panel-makers-grapple-with-hazardous-waste-problem/?__lsa=6a9b-1082
http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/the-dark-side-of-solar-panels.html
Or maybe your just talking in a general sense.
http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2009/05/04/10-abandoned-renewable-energy-plants/