With the 2016 presidential election approaching, the debate over whether or not to construct the fourth phase of the Keystone XL, a 1,179 mile crude oil pipeline, continued to grow. The pipeline, a proposed $13 billion project, would have been the fourth phase in an oil pipeline system that stretches from Alberta Canada to various locations across the U.S. This fourth phase of the project would have run from Alberta Canada, through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska, before connecting with the already existing southern leg of the pipeline that delivers oil to the Gulf Coast ("Background on Keystone XL Pipeline Project”). After six years of review, on November 6th, 2015, United States president Barack Obama rejected the proposed pipeline; …show more content…
Despite the majority of Americans favoring the construction of Keystone XL, the opposition has proven to be tremendously passionate and strong. Many who are opposed feel that a major issue regarding Keystone XL’s construction is the environmental impact. Fiery anti-pipeline feelings were demonstrated in September of 2014 when 400,000 environmental supporters filled the streets of New York City to protest against the pipeline, among other environmental threats, attempting to gain support for a movement that prevents large fossil fuel corporations from continuing projects such as Keystone XL that could harm the environment (Davis, 102). It’s impassioned groups like these which brought attention to the environmental aspect of Keystone XL that may have influenced Obama to rule against the pipeline’s …show more content…
This “dirty oil” comes from tar sands in Canada. When compared to conventional oil, tar sands take more energy to extract and refine, causing its production to be three to four times more greenhouse gas intensive (Casey-Lefkowitz). In addition, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Keystone XL has the potential to increase carbon pollution by 27 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (Casey-Lefkowitz). To put that number into perspective, Keystone XL is projected to add more carbon to the atmosphere over its project timeline than the combined tailpipe emissions of every single car in America over the course of a year. (Grant). These figures are extremely concerning to environmentalists since carbon dioxide is one of the main greenhouse gases related to climate change. These emissions would also disrupt President Obama’s goal of cutting U.S. pollution levels by 26-28% by 2025 ("U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change and Clean Energy Cooperation.") Economically speaking, Keystone XL could expedite or possibly expand the impact climate change would have on the U.S. and world economy. The current trend of increasing global temperatures has been linked to more natural disasters, decreased
On the 9th of February 2004 TransCanada Corporation, an energy company based in Alberta, Canada proposed a plan for the installation and use of a pipeline that would stretch from Alberta, Canada to oil refineries in the Gulf Coast of Texas in the United States. The pipeline, titled the Keystone Pipeline, would be installed in four separate phases and once completed would transport up to 1.1 million barrels of synthetic crude oil per day. Phases two through four of the pipeline encompass the parts of the pipeline that would be installed in the United States and would be located in the states of North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, and Illinois. TransCanada is currently awaiting approval from the US government in order to begin the installation of the US portion of the pipeline.
The Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone XL Pipeline are two pipeline projects that were suspended in the past. These pipelines were stopped because they could have a big impact on people and the environment. The making of these pipelines would cause a great amount of carbon pollution. Recently, President Trump signed the order to approve the pipeline project. The projects have pros and cons, the people in favor of the pipelines think we would be able to rely less on foreign oil.
In this essay we will be looking at why the Keystone XL Pipeline should not be built. This is a hot controversial issue that has been in the news for awhile. We will discuss the pros and cons of what will happen if the United States passes legislature to allow the Keystone XL Pipeline to be built. You have to ask yourself if destroying the environment is for our children is worth it to make a few billions richer or maybe little bit cheaper gas. If you agree with building the Keystone XL Pipeline you need to look your children in the eyes and tell them you’re sorry for destroying the environment for them and their children.
The reason for this report is to increase the reader’s knowledge on the Alberta Tar Sands, which will allow them to create their own opinions on the situation. It is a very pertinent issue in politics and will have a very large effect on the carbon emissions of Canada. Also, I wanted to further my understanding of the Alberta tar sands and learn the side effects of the tar sands. How the tar sands are different from other oil and energy procurement methods and which method is more energy efficient? Would the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline in the United States be an intelligent way for the US to involve itself in the tar sands? I wanted to answer these questions by knowing the real facts about the tar sands versus what the oil companies are telling the consumers. The ability to assess the entire situation will allow both the reader and I to formulate our own opinions about the tar sands and whether the extraction of oil at the tar sands should continue.
One of these factors was the logistical nightmare of redeveloping the infrastructure needed to transport oil to the refinery. As early as 1881, Standard oil operated approximately 3,000 miles of pipelines, eventually owning ninety percent of the nation’s pipelines. Although transcontinental railroads were an available alternative, pipelines were cheaper, reduced handling and storage fees, and were more efficient. The fact that modern oil companies invest hundreds of millions of dollars into speculating for sustainable natural oil deposits implies that such deposits are rare and hard to identify with a passing glance. If the spurts of oil proved to be isolated incidents, the capital invested in building pipelines and reestablishing a monopoly would have been squandered.
The Keystone XL Pipeline Imagine the world not as how it is now, but as how people wish it could be. There is no pollution, everyone has a job, the world is at peace and a safe place to live, and most importantly, everyone is happy. This is but a mere dream. Now open your eyes and look at it. See the reality of what the world truly is: we are intentionally hurting the environment, many people in the world are unemployed, many different countries are at war and people are dying because of it.
This paper will discuss the effects of Keystone XL Pipeline project and how the findings of the research might be beneficial to the United States. The first point of argument will be the negative impact of the Keystone Pipeline to America’s economy and the environment. The second point of view will be the positive impact of Keystone Pipeline to America’s economy. Keystone XL Pipeline is TransCanada’s tar-sand transportation project. The pipeline is supposed to cut across America to be linked with Canada’s tar-sand mines. It is aimed at increasing energy security in America. However, the project has received a lot of criticism from both the citizens and environmentalists for climate reasons (Mendelsohn and Dinar 154). To understand the implications of Keystone XL Pipeline, it is important to look at its environmental and economic impacts to the United States.
The Keystone XL pipeline continues dividing the opinion of the people and being a controversial issue. The precious “black gold”, represents one of the main factors that moves the economy, nationally and globally. This extra-long pipeline will transport oil all the way from Canada to Texas. Some experts and the private oil corporation, who is the one in charge of this project, point to the benefits of this project, for example, will make the USA more independent from foreign oil, will create thousands of jobs and improve the economy. Nevertheless, are experts revealing how the pipeline is an unnecessary risk and will be negative for the environment, dangerous for the population living close to the big pipes, and long-term negative for the
The Keystone Pipeline started construction in 2008 for the main purpose of connecting Canadian and American oil refineries to transport crude oil from the oil sands of Canada faster and more efficient. So far the first three phases of the pipeline have been completed but the proposed and most controversial is Phase IV. It connects Hardisty, Alberta to Steele City, Oklahoma which requires a presidential permit and it also connects the 485-mile southern leg known as the Gulf Coast Project between Steele City and Port Arthur, Texas, which is now operating (Eilperin). The benefits of the pipeline include an increase in jobs, contribute $3.4 billion to the U.S economy and also save time and money from transporting the oil by pipeline instead of tanks and rails. At the same time it would be a great harm to the environment, making the climate unstable, and could cause possible future oil spills. The articles covering the Keystone Pipeline generally list out the same points, covering the same benefits and consequences of building the pipeline. Sources like Fox News and CNS have more of an opposition towards the pipeline and narrow in on the risks and of the effects it would have on the people. Whereas news stations such as CNN and The Washington Post address both sides of the controversy but are subtle about being in favor of the pipeline. The international sources such as Al Jazeera and Reuters oppose the pipeline and are more open with supporting the environmentalists.
Almost every single nation in our world today, the United States included, is extremely reliant on oil and how much of it we can obtain. Wars have started between countries vying for control of this valuable natural resource. The United States as a whole has been trying to reduce its reliance on foreign oil and has had some success, especially with the discovery of the Bakken formation and projects like the Keystone Pipeline. Projects like the Keystone Pipeline are important as they will allow us to transport more oil than we would be able to in train cars, and grant larger access to oil reserves in the United States and Canada. The Keystone Pipeline itself is an oil pipeline which runs from the western Canadian sedimentary basin in Alberta, Canada to refineries in the United States.
People need to reduce the use of carbon footprints because many companies like Exxon and Keystone XL did their dirty business that effect public health and environment. Political campaigns are part of the effect in global warming because they promise to go green but never make an effort. Obama forced to solve climate but fail to do so in 2008. Obama signed a billion that support teams of energy advisors and control carbon emissions. According to Derber, big business did not support the bill and tried to get rid of it. Fracking is a process used by fossil fuel companies to extract oil and gas from shale or other deep rocks. There was a movement against fracking lead by Jill Wiener who fought for 5 years to keep fracking legalized in New York and some people were arrested in the White house for
Australian Legislation Laws on Occupation Rent Payment Introduction Occupation rent payment in Australia depends extensively on the division of rental income and expenses between the co-owners. Usually, spouses share the rental income and expenses in accordance with legal interests. Consequently, Australian legal laws ensure that rental joint co-owners hold an equal interest in the rental property, while at the same time tenants in common may hold an unequal interest in the property. In most cases, this variation depends if the co-owners are joint, common tenants or partnership on a rental property.
Pipeline Transportation is a massive mode of transportation for over one hundred countries around the world. As of 2014, there is approximately 2,175,000 miles of pipeline, enough to wrap around the Earth 87 times. Of those millions of miles, 64% of the world’s pipeline is in the United States alone. Pipelines are mostly used for the transportation of both crude and refined petroleum, fuels such as oil, natural gas, and biofuels, and other fluids like water and sewage. Even alcohol is sometimes transported using pipelines. Pipelines are used all around us. Miles of them are running continuously below our feet on a daily basis. The creation of pipeline transportation has been an incredibly help to society both directly and indirectly.
Fuels like coal, and oil that once were a fine innovation in creating energy are now rapidly deleting and one day will be gone forever; energy that won’t last is often referred to as non-renewable energy. Besides being set up to fail and become inefficient in the future, fossil fuel energy is not clean to use and poses several environmental complications. Coal, for instance is “the dirtiest of all fossil fuels. Coal combustion not only produces sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides that contribute to acid rain and snow, it generates millions of tons of particulates that cause asthma and other respiratory diseases.” As with all usage of fossil fuels, it creates enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, which contributes to greenhouse gas. Not only are fossil fuels dirty, they also pose as a security risk and unforgiving on the American wallet. (Saini)
When we look at Enbridge’s Line 9 and the pipeline carrying oil substance that it was not initially designed for we can apply the discipline of environmental sociology and dismember the different aspects and analyze them individually to understand how outcomes are produced. Environmental sociology, in regards to Line 9 addresses the social relations between some of the major towns and cities that the pipe runs through and explains how capitalism forms the base of environmental deterioration as financial income and wealth accumulation are often factors that receive more recognition. The familiar understanding of the Line 9 is that the government and city officials declare that it is safely distributing oil, when in reality, when we as sociologists observe and record that it is providing more societal concerns than it is claiming. This can be obtained through an examination of the numerous health affects that are presented through documentaries, such as residents suffering from seizures, and the arrest of a gentlemen who displayed signs of insanity and madness (Line 9, Film). It is at this point where it can be understood that environmental sociology helps us recognize human diversity and the challenges of living in a diverse world through the examination of human behavior and action towards environmental concerns. In the documentary, This Changes Everything, we are shown that fossil fuels are a growing concern that is attracting the attention of local residents who acknowledge that we are all sharing a common atmospheric space that needs attention from all individuals on all different social and economic levels (This Changes Everything, Film). When environmental