So the news is full of debate about the Keystone pipeline deal. When I see what a tar sands spill does to the environment I cant imagine why anyone would want to risk having a pipeline anywhere nearby. When I see oil companies so geeked about a project I have to be suspicious about who stands to benefit from this. Youll hear that the pipeline will create 42,000 jobs directly and indirectly. If you go to Trans Canadas website you can find pretty quickly that there would be 9,000 jobs created building the pipeline. Those great paying jobs will travel with the line as it gets built and will come to an end once the pipeline is built. What keeps getting suggested is that this project will create jobs and make the US less dependent upon Middle East oil. I have a proposal that will do the same thing without the environmental risk of a pipeline running across the US. Extend the pipeline about one mile across the US / Canadian Border to a brand new oil refinery built and operated by skilled American workers. More American workers can then ship American refined gasoline across the country for less money than it takes to ship barrels of oil across the ocean from Iraq or Saudi Arabia. Maybe new rail services would need to be built to transport this fuel across the country. Why is my idea better than the oil companies plan? The jobs created by building a pipeline across 2,000 miles are temporary. I guess you could argue that when there is some tragic accident that ruptures the pipeline there will be long-term jobs created to try and clean-up the mess. The pipeline would send dangerous tar sands oil to refineries in Texas so the refined products can be sold over seas. Leaving the US supply at the status quo. Granted my proposal for only one mile of the pipeline to be in the US is a risk for that one mile but it sure beats thousands of miles of risk. I realize that my plan does not address the environmental impact of tar sands oil production. The argument has been set up as environmental risk vs job creation. This is a bogus argument. This Is all about money. If oil companies can pipe that oil to their refineries and sell it over seas they will make trillions of dollars over the coming years and the cost of building the pipeline and paying for clean ups, pay offs, lawsuits will be dwarfed. The jobs created will be temporary and minimal. Trans Canada does not care about creating jobs, the environment, or anyones future except their future profits. Theres my soap box for tonight.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 03:43:33 +0000
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