Canada seeks alternative route for Keystone XL
http://dervishcom.blogspot.com/2012/01/canada-seeks-alternative-route-for.html
While President Obama wants to delay a decision on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline until after the 2012 election, Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper is stepping up efforts to explore an alternative pipeline that would allow Canada to ship their tar sands oil to China.
On Tuesday, an independent federal panel in Canada will begin its review of a proposed western pipeline that would carry the oil from Alberta to the coast of British Columbia. From British Columbia, the oil would be shipped on tankers to oil-hungry China.
"I think it's essential, based on what's occurred with Keystone XL, that this country does diversify its energy-export markets," Harper said in a radio interview on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reports.
While Harper certainly wants to keep his options open, the alternative pipeline under consideration wouldn't necessarily be available to Canada any sooner than a new U.S. route, assuming it eventually gets a gets a green light in 2013.
Canadian officials says that assessment of the northern route won't be completed until late 2013. The State Department, which is overseeing consideration of alternative routes, is expected early in 2013.
The proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would have been built from northwest Canada to Texas, was delayed in November after the Obama administration faced an avalanche of protest from environmentalists. Central to environmentalists' argument against the pipeline is a concern that it would cut near the Ogallala Aquifer and a potential leak would be catastrophe to a major water source for the Midwest. Several Nebraska Republicans--including Gov. Dave Heineman--also opposed that route.
Canadian environmentalists are voicing similar concerns about the alternative route. The Toronto Star reports that the western route faces fierce opposition from environmentalists in Canada who say that pipeline leaks or a tanker spill would endanger some of the world's most pristine forests and coastal areas and that the proposal "has already galvanized unprecedented concern in the green movement."
As part of last month's deal with House Republicans for a two-month payroll tax cut extension, Obama agreed to make a decision on the Canada-to-Texas route by the end of February. The White House, however, has signaled that the short deadline will likely result in the president rejecting the project.
Proponents of the project say that Keystone XL would create thousands of jobs in the USA and would lessen U.S. dependence on Middle East oil.
"President Obama says we can't wait for action on jobs," House Speaker John Boehner's office noted in an e-mail to reporters today. "Well, Canada isn't waiting. One way or another, a new energy pipeline will be built. The question the president and Democrats in Washington need to answer is: would Democrats rather American workers get these Keystone jobs? Or China?"
On Tuesday, an independent federal panel in Canada will begin its review of a proposed western pipeline that would carry the oil from Alberta to the coast of British Columbia. From British Columbia, the oil would be shipped on tankers to oil-hungry China.
"I think it's essential, based on what's occurred with Keystone XL, that this country does diversify its energy-export markets," Harper said in a radio interview on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reports.
While Harper certainly wants to keep his options open, the alternative pipeline under consideration wouldn't necessarily be available to Canada any sooner than a new U.S. route, assuming it eventually gets a gets a green light in 2013.
Canadian officials says that assessment of the northern route won't be completed until late 2013. The State Department, which is overseeing consideration of alternative routes, is expected early in 2013.
The proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would have been built from northwest Canada to Texas, was delayed in November after the Obama administration faced an avalanche of protest from environmentalists. Central to environmentalists' argument against the pipeline is a concern that it would cut near the Ogallala Aquifer and a potential leak would be catastrophe to a major water source for the Midwest. Several Nebraska Republicans--including Gov. Dave Heineman--also opposed that route.
Canadian environmentalists are voicing similar concerns about the alternative route. The Toronto Star reports that the western route faces fierce opposition from environmentalists in Canada who say that pipeline leaks or a tanker spill would endanger some of the world's most pristine forests and coastal areas and that the proposal "has already galvanized unprecedented concern in the green movement."
As part of last month's deal with House Republicans for a two-month payroll tax cut extension, Obama agreed to make a decision on the Canada-to-Texas route by the end of February. The White House, however, has signaled that the short deadline will likely result in the president rejecting the project.
Proponents of the project say that Keystone XL would create thousands of jobs in the USA and would lessen U.S. dependence on Middle East oil.
"President Obama says we can't wait for action on jobs," House Speaker John Boehner's office noted in an e-mail to reporters today. "Well, Canada isn't waiting. One way or another, a new energy pipeline will be built. The question the president and Democrats in Washington need to answer is: would Democrats rather American workers get these Keystone jobs? Or China?"
