dagblog - Comments for "Keystone Extra Large"

TransCanada May Shorten

Donal — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:24:00 +0000

TransCanada May Shorten Keystone XL, Bypass Federal Review

TransCanada’s $7 billion Keystone XL proposal to bring crude from Canada’s oil sands to the Gulf was rejected yesterday by the Obama administration. The project required U.S. approval because it crossed the border with Canada. The company may seek that approval after it builds the segment from Montana to the Gulf, ...

There is a fourth reason for

Elusive Trope — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:37:17 +0000

In reply to Keystone Extra Large

There is a fourth reason for many people - not just liberals: their daily life pretty much demands it. Their job requires them to drive a vehicle. There is no adequate public transportation system. The closest grocery store is three miles away. Family member lives in another town. The household is located in a rural area. And so on.

Looking out the window today...maybe the planet does need us to stand at a bus stop as the snow swirls around us in order to the grocery story. Maybe this is part of the inconvenience which we should endure. A question - is it the President's job to ask people to make this kind of sacrifice? At what point do we just put this at the feet of the people, rather than looking to the father figure. The Buddhist in me would say it is not really a sacrifice, as are all those things we think as such, but people are still going to see it as a sacrifice.

I think what I am really asking about, what I think needs to be brought more into focus, is what does moving more forcibly away from fossil fuels in real terms. I agree the sky is falling, but unless something is offered as a solution, people (especially the not-so-smart ones you believe are out there) have no choice but compartmentalize and get one with their daily lives.

Most people do not enjoy guilt and shame. They want to believe they are part of the solution rather than part of the problem (although in general I believe usually if one is not part of the problem, one is not part of the solution). And they want to take care of their responsibilities and meet the demand of their daily lives. They want to keep a roof over their head and go help a family member who is dealing with a difficult situation. And so on.

The usual analogy is to look to the "war effort" during WWII. People made sacrifices then. But it isn't a war. It isn't a short term sacrifice - one in which once the "war" is over, we can go back to our "normal" lifestyles. This is an entire change in lifestyle...permanently (at least in our lifetimes). Just pointing out the sky is falling isn't going to cut it.

I consider myself fairly

Donal — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:02:00 +0000

In reply to Keystone Extra Large

I consider myself fairly well-read on these issues, but I have to admit that I've never heard the term Global Burning. Also, I never thought of Climate Change as a diminutive of Global Warming—just a more encompassing description.

Obama appears sold on the conservative lie that burning more domestic (or at least North American) carbon is a good thing ....

I wish it was just a conservative lie, but even Peak Oil aware economist James Hamilton has argued at Econbrowser in favor of the additional jobs that would result. Hamilton dismisses the leakage concerns as normal for the industry, but as Oxy notes, this is not normal crude.

AIUI, the pipeline will allow Canadian synthetic crude (bitumen that is mined from tar sand and superheated with natural gas) to be refined in the US and sold at a higher price to China. I've heard a lot of noise about how this will be profitable for Canada, but I suspect that the profits will mostly go to a few plutocrats, like the Kochs, while the people that actually live in the shadow the mines will simply be used and shoved aside. As reported in The Tyee, geologist David Hughes asks this question in his report, The Northern Gateway Pipeline (PDF):

Why does the Canadian government support a proposal to export oil to China when nearly half the country (Quebec and Atlantic Canada) is nearly 100 per cent dependent on declining or volatile reserves from the North Sea and the Middle East?

Hughes is talking about a different project, but the question is still valid: who benefits from selling syncrude on the world market? It isn't the Canadians or the Americans as a whole—it is the North American moguls that are selling and the Asian moguls that are buying.

I suspect that the XL controversy has simply been delayed until after Election Day.

Jeffrey Brown, co-promoter of the Export Land Model had a great comment on another Hamilton post:

You may recall the movie, "The Sixth Sense." In the movie, many ghosts don't know they are dead, and they only see what they want to see. For most Americans, our auto centric, suburban way of life is dead, but most of us don't know it yet, and we only see what we want to see.

Anyway, thanks for the post.

What an outstanding piece,

Oxy Mora — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:11:46 +0000

In reply to Keystone Extra Large

What an outstanding piece, Hal.

The Republicans had hoped to put Obama cross-wise with the Democratic base and I am much encouraged by his decision against the pipeline. It gives the Republicans a jobs issue but 6000 temporary jobs can be put into proper perspective.

More than anything else, people need time to understand the difference between pumping superheated tar sands and pumping crude. The stresses on the pipe itself is of another magnitude, for starters, let alone the toxicity of the sludge.

People deny climate change, particularly in Texas where I spend a great deal of time. This past Summer a completely new and tragic event happened which even the country folks understand. Trees died all over Texas. On my small acreage several 150 year old post oaks gave up the ghost in late August. These oaks simply turned brown while trees around them stayed green and lost their foliage in the normal pattern. The combination of drought and heat killed the post oaks, some of which are three or four feet in diameter. It's tragic.