Year 2, Month 9, Day 9: The Rent Is High But It’s Not So Bad If You Don’t Pay It

The Sept. 5 Daytona News-Journal has a piece of predictable, mealy-mouthed, pipeline advocacy:

According to the Houston Chronicle, the pipeline builders have agreed to 57 provisions beyond federal environmental law that will enhance environmental protections. The Chronicle reports the extra provisions include dropping the pipeline to greater depth at river crossings and in the Ogallala Aquifer region.

Piping the oil is safer than deep-water drilling, as the spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 proves. Drilling on land and in shallow water allows for quicker resolution of spills and pipeline problems.

In Alaska, the 800-mile Trans Alaska Pipeline System has had minimal problems, transferring 16 billion barrels of oil since 1977.

Canada is already our No. 1 source of foreign oil, and our northern neighbor is booming with new finds of oil. If the U.S. turns away the 700,000 barrels a day from the tar sands, the oil is likely to be sold to China — and that won’t help the price of gasoline here.

It sounds really plausible for a moment or so. Then you remember they’re speaking on behalf of some of the world’s most notorious liars and criminals. Sent September 5:

Careful scrutiny of the claims made by advocates of the Keystone XL pipeline is revealing. For example, saying that “the project would decrease American reliance on Middle-Eastern oil” doesn’t make it so — according to a recent study from Oil Change International, the tar sands oil is destined almost entirely for overseas markets. Without stringent enforcement mechanisms, the pipeline builders’ “57 provisions beyond federal environmental law that will enhance environmental protections” is a meaningless cosmetic gesture. The oil industry’s history is chock-full of legal malfeasance, bad intentions and simple incompetence — why would any sane person trust their bland assertions that the pipeline will be completely safe? And then there is the statement, offered without qualification, that “America needs the oil.” Yeah, we need that oil — and an addictive smoker needs that cigarette. But what America (and the rest of the world) really needs is to kick the habit entirely.

Warren Senders