But the much larger, $7.3 billion Keystone XL pipeline is different in three ways. First, it certainly will carry dilbit, the nasty goop produced from tar sands that requires diluting with other fuels and high-pressure pumping for transport, meaning that if a spill occurs, the results are far more expansive and dangerous. Second, the pipeline services Gulf Coast refiners, and given the much higher value of oil on the world market vs. the glutted U.S. domestic market, the refined products certainly will be exported, with the paradoxical effect of raising U.S. gasoline prices — hardly in the national interest. Third, as a new pipeline crossing an international border, Keystone XL requires State Department approval, and the case for approval does not hold up. The main argument for the pipeline — energy security vs. importing oil from the problematic Middle East and Venezuela — collapses since tar sands oil will be exported and so won’t reduce U.S. imports.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Aug 2013 11:50:44 +0000
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