Voice your support for the Keystone XL pipeline

A very interesting post from http://consumerenergyalliance.org about the Keystone XL pipeline. This follows this post about a singer named Taylor Swift.  This follows this post about some of the music that was poplular during 2011. This follows THIS POST about some movies that have been released over the past few years that you might have missed! This all follows this post about guidelines to chosing good movies to watch yourself!


Tell Secretary Clinton to say “YES” to American jobs and “NO” to dependence on overseas oil. Sign our petition and voice your support for the Keystone XL Pipeline to Secretary Clinton.

http://www.buildkxlnow.org/take-action



Myth vs. Reality


Myth: The Keystone XL Pipeline will hurt the environment.



Reality: After over three years of environmental review, the Department of State concluded in its Final Environmental Impact Statement that “no significant environmental concerns exist” that should preclude the permitting of the pipeline. Furthermore, to ensure the pipeline operates safely, the operator, TransCanada, has agreed to construct the pipeline with an additional 57 safety requirements and has agreed to re-route the pipeline to avoid any potentially environmentally sensitive areas in Nebraska. In the United States, over 170,000 miles of liquid pipelines help transport 11.3 billion barrels of petroleum each year. American pipelines maintain, by far, the lowest spill rate per volume than any other transport method available.





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Myth: Building the Keystone XL pipeline will lead to higher gasoline and diesel prices for American consumers.



Reality: Keystone XL will provide U.S. refineries with upwards of 700,000 barrels of crude oil each day and will increase the overall supply of oil. This stable, long-term supply will give us greater energy security and help mitigate the impact that supply disruptions, like those caused by storms or political turmoil, have on prices. This ultimately means greater price stability for American consumers.





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Myth: Oil transported through the Keystone XL pipeline will be exported to China.



Reality: The United States imported over four billion barrels of oil in 2010; a 700,000 barrel per day pipeline will make a real impact on American energy security, but it will not make America a net oil exporter. In addition, there is already spare pipeline capacity from the oil sands to the Pacific coast, a distance of only about 500 miles. Why would companies choose instead to ship the oil 1,700 miles in the opposite direction, load it onto tankers in the Gulf of Mexico, and then ship it south and through the Panama Canal toward Asian markets, incurring additional and avoidable costs at each step?





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Myth: Oil from Canada is more dangerous and more corrosive than other forms of crude oil.



Reality: Keystone XL will ship a wide variety of crude oil types including conventional oil, shale oil, partially upgraded synthetic oil and oil sands derived bitumen blends. None of these crude types create a significant risk of destroying the pipeline from within and causing leaks. These products have shipped and are currently being shipped across to the United States via other cross‐border pipelines from Canada. It would be an uneconomic business proposition to spend billions of dollars constructing a pipeline system that would be destroyed by the product it transported.





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Myth: Keystone XL pipeline will lead to greater GHG emissions resulting in climate change.



Reality: Canada’s oil sands resources will be developed regardless of whether the Keystone XL pipeline is built. Canada is a stable, democratic country with strict environmental oversight – the same cannot be said about other countries from which we purchase oil. Furthermore, much of the crude oil that currently supplies the Gulf Coast refineries is transported on barges from faraway regions of the world, which requires significantly more energy to transport; pipelines, on the other hand, require the least amount of energy to move crude.





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Myth: The Keystone XL pipeline will harm the environmentally sensitive Nebraska Sandhills.



Reality: The State of Nebraska in concert with the U.S. Department of State and TransCanada are currently evaluating an alternative route through Nebraska. The new route will avoid the environmentally sensitive Sandhills region. Regardless, the full route of the pipeline will be constructed and maintained with an additional 57 safety requirements, making this pipeline one of the safest every constructed in the United States.