Originally Posted By: m6pwr
Originally Posted By: jaj
Canada does not have a significant pipeline to a seaport for loading oil for export. Keystone XL would have provided that access via the Gulf Coast, as well as providing oil for the US market directly.
Now, the Canadian government is planning on doing the exact opposite of what Obama did. They've indicated that they'll shortcut the environmenal impact hearings and force a major pipeline to the British Columbia coast to go ahead in the face of (US funded) environmental opposition.
Not only is the opportunity to tranship the oil lost to the US, the Canadian government is actively seeking markets in China and Japan. The oil that could have kept prices under control in the US is going to be sold elsewhere.
The primary reason reason TransCanada wanted to build the XL pipeline was to get the tar sands crude to American refineries in the Gulf that are capable of refining the junk into useable transportation fuel. The refineries are happily located in a Foreign Trade Zone that means the refined product will be exempt from US Customs duties and US State and Federal Taxes - - as long as it's EXPORTED! The refineries are, from what I've read, configured to refine middle distillates (diesel and jet fuel).
Of the 6 companies that have contracted to receive the product from the XL pipeline, if its ever built, 5 are foreign owned. Their marketing intentions haven't been made public but they will probably follow the model of the sixth contracted company, Valero. In speeches and in investment guides, Valero has made its intentions clear: it intends to sell the middle distillates to China and South America.
In all likelihood not a drop of diesel from the pipeline will ever reach the cars and trucks of American consumers.
In a lot of media coverage, the crude that would be transported thru the XL pipeline is spoken of as if it were conventional crude oil. It is not. It is "dilbit" (diluted bitumen), a tar like substance that has to be dissolved in a carcinogenic (benzene) and potentially explosive broth of condensed natural gas. It has to be heated and kept at temps of 160 F and pumped at pressures of 1440 psi to move it along. There's an existing pipeline (I think it's called the Lakehead pipeline and it's owned by Enbridge Energy) that takes dilbit from Alberta to refineries in the upper midwest. In July 2010 it spilled 1.2 million gals of dilbit into the Kalamazoo (Mich.) river. The benzene-carrying dilutent either flashed into the atmosphere or went into the water. The bitumen sank to the bottom of the river like a rock. Twenty mos. and $725 million dollars later Enbridge has still not been able to clean up the spill. A recent study done by the MIch. Dept of Health shows that folks in the spill area have developed respiratory and nervous system problems consistent with acute benzene exposure.
The supposed job creation figures expounded for the pipeline are a complete joke - - really farcical but too much to go into here.
The XL pipeline is one big con job. If it's built, the US will take all the safety and environmental risk and get nothing in return.
The "pragmatic" Pres. Obama has apparently caved again.
Thank you for the details, it is hard to see this when everyone and their mothers want to blame the other side with only emotions involved (me included).
