I have not been following the debate over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project as closely as some, mostly noting the arguments against it by environmental groups and its utility as a chess piece in completely unrelated negotiations over tax policy, etc.
So, while others may have known that tar sands oil is already being piped to US refineries, the news came as a complete surprise to me. I learned of this the other night in a comment exchange with in inestimable webranding in one of the GOP debate threads.
CV: "Reopening" Keystone? (4+/0-)
It's not built. Bit early to "reopen" it, eh?
w: Oh But It Is Better (2+ / 0-)
Keystone is built and functional. The extension is what they're talking about. This is kind of important. It runs all the way from Canada down to within a few miles of my house in southern Illinois where the largest Shell refinery complex is located.
CV: Then wtf does it need to go to Texas City for? (1+ / 0-)
w: I Don't Know. Here Is A Map (1+ / 0-)
this is so very important to understand. It is already there and being used. Most folks just don't get this.
(Having the devil's own time embedding the map webranding posted. It can be found here or here.)
A quick glance confirms that there is indeed an existing pipeline system transporting Canadian tar sands oil from Hardisty, Alberta to the refinery complex at Wood River/Patoka (now owned by Conoco/Phillips, no longer Shell).
My head-scratching intensifies. If tar sands oil is already coming into the country to be refined, why extend/expand Keystone? Perhaps the Texas refineries are better suited to processing tar sands product?
If that's the case, there is already transport for the oil. For over five years, the existing pipeline from Patoka to Nederland, TX and Beaumont (the final destination of proposed Keystone XL, not Texas City, as I'd assumed), has been filled with Canadian crude, heading to the sunny South. The pipeline, owned by Exxon/Mobil, was built to transport crude from Gulf deliveries to the Wood River/Patoka complex, but in April 2006, the flow was reversed to bring the Canadian black gold to Texas.
By now, I'm cutting grooves in my scalp. A system of pipelines exists today, actively transporting product from Alberta to US refineries, including those in Texas where Keystone XL is supposed to go.
Why exactly do we need the "XL" part? To commemorate the Steelers' win over Seattle in the 2006 Superbowl? Because pipeline workers will get t-shirts pre-labeled?
The answer comes from a February article by David Sassoon in Inside Climate News, reprinted by Reuters. Prepare to be unsurprised.
Koch Brothers Positioned To Be Big Winners If Keystone XL Pipeline Is Approved
What's been left out of the ferocious debate over the pipeline, however, is the prospect that if president Obama allows a permit for the Keystone XL to be granted, he would be handing a big victory and great financial opportunity to Charles and David Koch, his bitterest political enemies and among the most powerful opponents of his clean economy agenda.
The two brothers together own virtually all of Koch Industries Inc. — a giant oil conglomerate headquartered in Wichita, Kan., with annual revenues estimated to be $100 billion.
A SolveClimate News analysis, based on publicly available records, shows that Koch Industries is already responsible for close to 25 percent of the oil sands crude that is imported into the United States, and is well-positioned to benefit from increasing Canadian oil imports.
sigh Talk about rounding up the usual suspects. . .
I realize that this probably isn't news to those following this issue closely, but it is to me. And predictably ugly news at that.
No wonder the Gimme Twins are so bound and determined to defeat not only President Obama but anyone else who questions the wisdom of total environmental pillage in the name of energy extraction. No wonder their creations like Americans for Prosperity and the Tea Party are so rabidly vitriolic on the subject of our socialist, Kenyan Hitler.
"Follow the money" has been the truest adage in politics since it was first uttered by Mark Felt in a DC parking garage nearly forty years ago. I just wish it didn't always seem to lead to the same, ugly doorsteps.
Not an update but a very sincere "Thank You" to the much more knowledgeable people who have contributed their expertise in the comments here, expanding my understanding of this issue immensely in a single day's time.
I have used this new information to craft a letter to the editor of my local rag regarding the economic uselessness of the XL, with no mention at all of environmental issues (the frame forced on opponents of the project).
Should you also feel this is a worthwhile use for this data, I'm sure you won't have to wait long before your local paper runs a payroll tax/pipeline story to reference.
Thanks again to all who have contributed to the discussion.