Keystone Ops

Some people oppose the building of the Keystone pipeline. They want to stop the movement of oil from the oil sands of Alberta to anywhere. They think that burning that oil will bring ruin to the climate and that it should be left in the ground. They also worry about damage to the environment from pipeline spills which do happen from time to time.

Influence peddlers have managed to present enough doubt to cause Obama to delay the approval of the pipeline from Alberta. A decision is now unexpected until 2014.

And yet the oil moves by rail. There have been several rail accidents in Canada lately like the disaster in Lac Megantic which involved the transportation of oil.

So why are there no protesters flinging themselves across the tracks to block the movement of the oil? Opponents would rather see the rail accidents happen even knowing that pipelines are a safer way to transport oil.

There are several beneficiaries of delays in the transport of oil from the oil sands. Competitors to Alberta oil are an obvious example along with environmental groups who oppose fossil fuels. Arab states as well as Venezuela will benefit from keeping Alberta oil in the ground. Those countries are not going to leave their oil in the ground and oil revenue not going to Alberta is oil revenue in their pockets.

As Obama plays golf instead of making decisions railroads are building new terminals and ordering new rail cars to increase their capacity to move the oil from Alberta to both Canadian coasts as well as the US oil refineries in Texas.

Owners of railroads must be happy and that would include Warren Buffet. Will Buffet sell the railroad just before Obama approves the Keystone XL pipeline?

A recent  poll  suggests that while Canadians and Americans are keen on reducing greenhouse gasses, the vast majority of them support the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that could transport up 830,000 barrels of oil per day from northern Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico.

Opponents of Keystone have been asked to protest loudly if Keystone is approved. But the trains roll on without so much as a whimper of protest. Why? Why is a pipeline worth a protest and threats by opponents to abandon Democrats in 2014 but transport by rail is ignored? This makes no sense if the real target is the CO2 that will enter the atmosphere if the oil is burned. Should transport by any means be the object of the protest? Have enviros lost sight of the target or is there something else going on here?

Obama says he will not approve Keystone if it will add to net CO2 emissions. Livestock produce more CO2 emissions than will the oil transported by KXL. If Obama is worried about the net emissions from oil sands oil then why is he allowing it to be transported by rail? What is going on here other than typical political lunacy?