WWGWD
Active member
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2012
- Messages
- 425
- Reaction score
- 127
- Location
- Austin, TX
- Gender
- Female
- Political Leaning
- Progressive
I don't think Canada is doing anything particularly different or unique that isn't happening in the US - it's probably a function of your country being 10 times the size of Canada and you're the largest economy in the world so you have the most oil transported in and out and around your country than anyone else and your pipeline infrastructure is probably a lot older than ours and has been used longer and more densely over time. It could also simply be a function of bad luck on your part and good luck on Canada's part.
There's a lot more politics in the Keystone delay, entirely related to Obama's reelection prospects and the delay in getting the permits approved are far more a function of that than any environmental concerns.
Fair enough on the context of oil production. However, I think it's a total miss characterization of the President's view on the Keystone pipeline. Oil isn't going anywhere for a while, and pipelines are the safest way to transport oil, and I think the President's administration knows that. For me the National Transporation Safety Board desribed the oil industries flaws very straightforwardly in 2010, after an oil spill in Michigan;
Press Release July 10, 2012Pervasive organizational failures by a pipeline operator along with weak federal regulations led to a pipeline rupture and subsequent oil spill in 2010, the National Transportation Safety Board said today.
In regards to Keystone particularly, the State Department is who as has the authority to review permit application and has discression on the informatioon needed to approve or deny the application. Keystone hasn't been nixed, the State department just asked for more information, which was at the time, estimated to be complete during this first quarter. All conspiracy theories aside, that sounds like a pretty reasonable request to me. You can read the official statement if you want;
Keystone XL Pipeline Project Review Process: Decision to Seek Additional Information