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The construction on the long disputed Keystone XL oil pipeline was halted Wednesday,
21 January 2021 as incoming U.S. President Joe Biden revoked its permit on his first day in office. The new
president marked his becoming the 46th president of the United States by succumbing to the demands of the environmental
extremists who are working to return the earth to its original “pristine” state when God finished six days of creating the
world. According to these self-appointed messengers of God, mankind takes a very distant second place in their considerations
and if we all freeze to death or starve to death, then so be it. Nature, as they perceive nature, is their only
consideration.
The 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline was planned to carry roughly 800,000 barrels of oil a day from
Alberta, Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.
“President Biden’s decision to rescind approval for construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline is
irrational surrender to the environmental extremists. The environmental impacts cited as justification for Biden’s
action are highly disputed. Biden is sticking to his campaign trail word. The move is part of a slate of day one
executive orders to address climate change, which also includes rejoining the Paris Climate Accords and halting oil and gas
leasing from Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. President Biden appears to have completely surrendered to environmental
stupidity and irrationality!
“ ‘The Permit is hereby revoked’, Biden's executive order says. ‘Leaving the Keystone XL pipeline
permit in place would not be consistent with my Administration’s economic and climate imperatives.’
“Keystone XL President Richard Prior said over 1,000 jobs, the majority unionized, will
be eliminated in the coming weeks. [Emphasis mine] ‘We will begin a safe and orderly shut-down of construction,’
he said. {These job eliminations could not be taking place at a worse time - when workers in Canada and the United
States are facing a massive loss of jobs and income because of the Covid-19 pandemic! }
“First proposed in 2008, the pipeline has become emblematic of the tensions between economic
development and curbing the fossil fuel emissions that are causing climate change. The Obama administration rejected it,
but President Donald Trump revived it and had been a strong supporter.
{FACT: Oil from Alberta will be taken out
of the ground whether the Keystone XL pipeline is completed or not. If it is not transported through the pipeline, it will
be trucked or transported by rail – both modes of transport which will increase atmospheric pollution!!!}
”The premier of the oil-rich Canadian province of Alberta called Biden's decision an ‘insult’ and
said the federal Canadian government should impose trade sanctions if it is not reversed. . .
- - -
“White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden will call Trudeau on Friday, the first call with
a foreign leader after Biden took the oath of office. Psaki said the pipeline will be discussed.
“Trudeau raised Keystone XL as a top priority when he spoke with Biden in a phone call in
November. The project is meant to expand critical oil exports for Canada, which has the third-largest oil reserves
in the world and is America’s number one source of foreign oil. [Emphasis mine] {This is a great way to replace our
previous presidential foreign relations disaster and to establish new positive relations with our nearest and most friendly
neighbor!!!}
“Trudeau and Biden are politically aligned and there are {were???} expectations for a return to
normal relations after four years of Trump, but the pipeline is an early irritant . . . [Emphasis mine]
- - -
”Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said Biden's decision is a gut punch for his province, which has a
stake in the project.
“ ‘It is an insult directed at the United States' most important ally and trading partner on
day one of a new administration,’ [Emphasis mine] Kenney said.
“ ‘The leader of our closest ally retroactively vetoed approval for a pipeline that exists and which
is co-owned by the Canadian government, directly attacking by far the largest part of the Canada U.S. trade relationship, which is
our energy industry and exports.’
- - -
“. . . Marty Durbin, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Energy Institute, said
Biden's decision is not grounded in science and will put thousands of Americans out of work . . .
" ‘The pipeline - the most studied infrastructure project in American history - is already under
construction and has cleared countless legal and environmental hurdles,’ Durbin said in a statement.
’Halting construction will also impede the safe and efficient transport of oil, and unfairly single out production
from one of our closest and most important allies.’ ” [Emphasis mine] (Ref. 1)
When completed, the Keystone XL pipeline would carry roughly 800,000 barrels of oil a day from
Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast. Construction had already started and it is claimed that halting
construction will impede the safe and efficient transport of oil, and unfairly single out production from one of our
closest and most important allies.[2]
Poor Justin Trudeau. The Canadian prime minister must have been relieved to be done with President
Donald Trump, only to learn that Joe Biden is telling Canada to pound sand as one of his first priorities.
Biden is canceling the Keystone XL pipeline immediately, a pointless and economically
destructive gesture meant to appease his party’s climate fanatics.
The multi-billion-dollar project was first proposed years ago in the naive faith that two adjoining,
friendly countries could cooperate on a big, mutually beneficial infrastructure project.
That was before the Keystone XL became a hate totem for the left, which makes it sound like the
pipeline might be the tipping point toward inevitable planetary destruction, among its myriad other alleged sins.
President Barack Obama denied a cross-border permit for the project in 2015. President Trump
quickly reversed course. And now Biden has reversed Trump’s reversal.
It’s a symptom of our time that a major investment that deserves some stability in American
decision-making has become a shuttlecock between outgoing and incoming administrations - and been caught in a nightmarish
trap of litigation and red tape all the while.
Why is adding new section of pipeline to an existing network built in previous phases of
the Keystone project such a heinous environmental crime (Keystone XL is the fourth phase)? Why is this particular leg of
pipeline considered so threatening in a country that already has a couple of million miles of pipeline?
The unsubstantiated charge is that Keystone XL, by making it easier for Canada to export its
‘dirty’ oil from the oil sands of Alberta, will herald the beginning of a fossil-fuels apocalypse.
But we already consume lots of petroleum from the oil sands. According to the Canadian government,
97% of its proven reserves are located in the oil sands and the oil sands account for more than 60% of the country’s current
oil production.
Canada is the third largest exporter of crude oil in the world, and 98% of that goes to the
United States, accounting for almost half of our imports of crude oil.
In a more rational time, it was considered a good thing to get oil from a country that isn’t
located in the Middle East, isn’t a petro-dictatorship and isn’t hostile to the United States.
Canada also is a responsible, environmentally conscious country unlike, say, Venezuela. It is true
that extracting crude from the oil sands is somewhat more energy intensive than other forms of extraction, but it is foolish
to pretend that this extra increment of CO2 is the difference-maker in the future of the planet.
Regardless, this energy isn’t simply going to stay in the ground. It will be extracted and sent
somewhere by some means. Currently, much of this oil is being exported to the United States via rail. This is a more
energy-intensive mode of transport than pipeline, yet the same people worried about marginal additional CO2 emissions aren’t
agitating to get it out of railcars and into pipelines. As our Native Americans would say: “They speak
with forked tongues!”
The enemies of Keystone XL have used litigation to tie up the project, even though it has passed
multiple massive regulatory reviews. When it seemed it could finally get underway in earnest, here comes Joe Biden to put
the kibosh on it again.
This is an unfortunate sign that Biden’s version of moderation is giving the left what it
wants, only in a piecemeal fashion. He will surely be more polite to Canadian leaders than Trump was, but this is a blow to
a Canadian government that thought it could rely on us to act rationally and shows that union workers take a backseat in the
Democratic Party to noisy adherents of fashionable causes.
If Biden really wants to restore our alliances, telling our friendly neighbor to the north
to “drop dead” is a funny way to do it!!![3]
“It’s heartening to hear the incoming president and his advisers talk about ‘listening to the science’
but also scary, since the country has often listened to the science only to discover that ‘the science’ was just an ill-founded
belief. . .
- - -
“At this stage, I am hopeful that the Biden Administration will take reasoned, measured steps to
develop an energy policy, but there is certainly a lot of pressure from them to take steps that would please the Democratic
Party’s liberal base, but are essentially populist, not rational. Most obvious is the decision to halt construction on the
long-controversial Keystone XL pipeline, part of a broader campaign against oil and gas pipeline construction.
“Along with the Keystone XL pipeline, targets of this movement have included the Dakota Access
Pipeline, Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline, and others. The logic behind the opposition is not generally scientific
but emotional and illogical. Three particular arguments are made: 1) pipelines might damage the environment where they are
laid; 2) building the pipelines increases greenhouse gas emissions, and 3) oil from oil sands is particularly carbon
intensive. . . [Emphasis mine]
“These arguments are not well founded. Pipeline construction must pass environmental review (like
many other things), and are and should be scrutinized to minimize their impact. It is certainly true that pipeline
accidents can result in pollution, but this ignores the greater context: not building pipelines means that oil is transported
by rail or truck, neither of which is as safe as pipeline transport. At present, there are 2.6 million miles of oil and gas
pipelines in the United States and the Keystone XL pipeline would add another .05% to that amount. Hardly apocalyptic.
“And the concern about additional greenhouse gas emissions is completely off-target. Opponents
adopting this argument are typically assuming that without the pipeline, the fuel would not be consumed and the related
emissions would not occur. . . before last year’s oil price collapse, {a considerable amount of} Canadian oil was moving
by rail. Given that Canadian railroads are not electrified for the most part, not using pipelines increases the greenhouse
gas emissions by a factor of four or more. [Emphasis mine]
“The Stockholm Environmental Institute produced a study which argued that the U.S. State Department
seriously underestimated the increase in greenhouse gas emissions that the pipeline would cause, but in large part because
they assumed no pipeline would mean less oil sands production and world oil prices would rise reducing oil consumption.
In reality, this would probably mean more oil would come from the Middle East, and the greenhouse gas emissions
resulting from shipping oil from the Middle East to Houston would emit six times as much CO2 as pipeline shipment from
Canada. ” [Emphasis mine] (Ref. 4)
The environmental impacts cited as justification for rescinding the Keystones XL permits
are highly disputed.
“The construction - or the nixing - of Keystone XL substantially affects a number of key political
issues in the United States. At stake in the decision are thousands of jobs, the efficiency and logistics of America’s energy
sector, and environmental concerns.
“By including the order in his climate change policy set, Biden appears to be deferring to the
environmentalist objectors. Activists like Greta Thunberg and the Sierra Club applauded the news. Independent Vermont
Senator Bernie Sanders also supported the decision, calling the pipeline a ‘disaster.’
- - -
“. . . Recently, proposals for the pipeline’s construction have promised to make it carbon-neutral
by 2023, with reinvestment going into green energy, according to the Edmonton Journal. . .
“As a result of those environmentally-friendly construction priorities, Keystone XL was said by
some to be a ‘model for green pipelining,’ . . .
“If the oil ends up getting moved anyways, just via a different method, it could actually
be worse for the environment. According to a University of Alberta study, rail and truck transport of crude oil not only
results in more spills, but in the overall life of the process, also emits more CO2. [Emphasis mine]
“. . . The Biden administration is claiming to stand on the side of science, but the facts
tell a much murkier story than anti-Keystone activists let on. [Emphasis mine] (Ref. 5)
In still another sign that President Biden has capitulated to the Climate Gestapo, the President
announced that he is recommitting the united States to the obligations of the Paris Climate Accord. One member of the House
of Representatives called President Biden's decision to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord "a gift to China," saying that other
nations will simply continue to pollute while the United States "takes drastic steps towards surrendering its own energy
independence."
“This self-sabotage of our energy production will jeopardize our economic recovery and national
security," said the representative.[6]
Without any impact on global temperatures, the Paris Accord is an open door for egregious regulation,
cronyism, and government spending that would be as disastrous for the American economy as it is proving to be for those in
Europe. Heritage Foundation analysts projected that this agreement would have raised energy prices, killed jobs and cost the
average family of four $20,000 by 2035. Research has shown that the Paris plan would have created a shortfall of
400,000 jobs and an increase in household electricity expenditure by 13 to 20 percent.
Realistically, the Paris agreement is basically an attempt to halt climate change on the honor
system, a system that internationally rarely, if ever, succeeds. Additionally, there is compelling evidence that
policies like those resulting from the Paris agreement will have little impact on global temperatures. As reported
on a Wall Street Journal editorial page: “The Big Con at the heart of Paris is that even its supporters concede
that meeting all of its commitments won’t prevent more than a 0.17 degree Celsius increase in global temperatures by 2100,
far less than the two degrees that is supposedly needed to avert climate doom.”
Both MIT and the U.N.’s own Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have projected that full
adherence to the Paris deal would have little or no impact on global temperatures. Meanwhile, even without an
agreement, U.S. CO2 emissions were 23 percent lower (per GDP dollar) in 2015 than in 2005. We’re cutting greenhouse gas
emissions faster and farther than the same European nations that denounced President Trump for pulling America out of the
Paris Accord and destroying the Earth.
Ah, but who can bother about boring old facts when the tree huggers of the world scream that the
sky is falling and that “Trump Pulling Out of the Paris Accord was a “Suicide Note To The World!”[7]
“Instead of listening to the threats and dire predictions of death and destruction being rained
down on us by the climate change terrorists, we would all do well to step back, consider the real science and the real facts,
and decide upon a balanced approach to addressing all the issues facing us - not just the single perceived problem of global
warming. Life on this planet involves more than just one issue. The truth is that we can reduce pollution and protect the
environment while, at the same time, continuing to improve the quality of life on this earth. We have the technology and the
power to do this. And we don’t have to return to the dark ages, as the climate change terrorists would have us do. We have
to carefully consider the consequences of proposed courses of action and not be led down paths leading to disastrous
outcomes.” (Ref. 8)
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References:
- Keystone XL pipeline halted as Biden revokes permit, Rob Gillies, Boston 25 News,
20 January 2021.
- Keystone pipeline work halts, Boston Herald, Page 21, 21 January 2021.
- President Biden to Canada: Drop dead, Rich Lowry, Boston Herald, Page 19, 21 January 2021.
- President Biden, Spare That Pipeline, Michael Lynch, Forbes, 19 January 2021.
- Is The Keystone XL Pipeline Actually Bad For The Environment?, Dylan Housman, Daily Caller,
20 January 2021.
- Rep. Barr calls President Biden's decision to rejoin the Paris Climate Accords a 'gift to China',
LEX18,
21 January 2021.
- The Paris Climate Agreement - Trump Finally Got One Right, David Burton, Son of Eliyahu;
Article 295,
15 June 2017.
- Beware the Climate Change Terrorists!, David Burton, Son of Eliyahu; Article 390,
6 December 2019.
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