JAMES M. TAYLOR: USA TODAY EXPLAINS THE BENEFITS OF KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE

Posted By on October 29th, 2011

http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2011/10/28/usa-today-explains-benefits-keystone-xl-pipeline

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/story/2011-10-26/Keystone-oil-pipeline-build/50941230/1 [7]

USA Today has published an excellent house editorial explaining why it is important for the Obama administration to approve construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline that would deliver oil from Canada’s oil sands to refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

USA Today points out that the United States imports approximately half of its oil, “which puts the nation at the mercy of the mercurial world oil market. Imports from Mexico and Venezuela, two of the USA’s biggest suppliers, are declining, and that’s projected to make the nation even more reliant on producers in the unstable Middle Eastand Africa. The Keystone pipeline would provide about a half-million more barrels a day from one of this nation’s closest and most reliable allies.”


“Criticism of the 1,700-mile pipeline is overblown,” USA Todayexplains. “For example, opponents assert that its route across the Ogallala Aquifer in Nebraska is risky because a spill could do catastrophic damage to that water supply. But critics ignore the fact that 2,000 miles of oil pipeline already cross the aquifer there. A Nebraska hydrogeologist who has studied the subsurface water formation for 40 yearssays even if there were a spill, the impact would be modest and containable. For a 35-mile stretch where the water table is close to the surface, the pipeline builder has offered to surround the line with concrete.”Regarding global warming concerns, USA Today observes, “the protesters act as though a rejection of Keystone would lock the tar sands in the ground and limit greenhouse gas emissions. Hardly. Canada has signaled it would re-route the pipeline to the West Coast and sell oil to China, which has already invested heavily in the tar sands.”

In summary, USA Today explains, “For all the need to wean the United States from its dependence on imported fossil fuels, it’s important to be realistic about meeting the nation’s energy needs in the meantime. Saying no to the Keystone pipeline is an empty gesture that would undermine U.S. energy security.”

The full USA Today editorial is available at http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/story/2011-10-26/Keystone-oil-pipeline-build/50941230/1 [7]

October 28, 2011

Author bio:

James M. Taylor is managing editor of Environment & Climate News, a national monthly publication devoted to sound science and free-market environmentalism with a circulation of approximately 75,000 readers. He is also senior fellow for The Heartland Institute focusing on environmental issues.

He is author of What Climate Scientists Think about Global Warming (Heartland Institute, 2007) and coauthor of State Greenhouse Gas Programs: An Economic and Scientific Analysis (Heartland Institute, 2003) and New Source Review: An Evaluation of EPA’s Reform Recommendations (Heartland Institute, 2002).

He has presented environmental analysis on the CBS Evening News, CNN, and Fox News Channel; on numerous national radio programs; and in virtually every major newspaper in the country.

Taylor received his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and his law degree from the Syracuse University College of Law, where he was president of the local chapter of the Federalist Society and founder and editor-in-chief of the Federalist Voice.

He lives near Tampa, Florida.

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