#Keystone XL Pipeline Oil Would Subtract 3 Cents or Less From a Gallon of #Gasoline in the US

I wouldn't want to meet the spirits of Pine Ridge if my actions threatened their aquifer, especially for no more than $.03 off a gallon of gas!

I think Chief Young Man Afraid of His Horse is somewhere laughing at the lies promoting the Keystone XL pipeline.

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Bloomberg's Biz Week says that there is evidence that much of the tar sands oil or post refinery output will be going overseas instead of staying in the US to ease gasoline prices.
Though the pro tar sands oil folk crow that refined products from the tar sands will cure the US gas shortage (though we don't really have a shortage, just a speculation spike) a "Biz Week" report says:

The gas price argument rests on the bump in supply the Keystone XL will bring to market. Keystone XL would deliver around 830,000 barrels a day. Not all of that would be used in the U.S., however: The pipeline delivers to a tariff-free zone, so there’s a financial incentive to export at least some of this oil. This is especially true because area refineries are primed to produce diesel, for which there’s less stateside demand. But let’s say two-thirds of the capacity—half a million barrels a day—of Keystone oil stays in the U.S. That’s a convenient estimate on which to gauge the impact of Keystone oil, because it’s the supply increase the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which provides independent data on energy markets, expected in a recent study of the expiration of offshore drilling bans. In 2008, it studied what 500,000 barrels more per day would save consumers at the pump 3¢ a gallon.

(Various text emphasis modeling above added by this blogger to keep each unique point clear.)

Wow, 3 cents a gallon.  What a deal!  (and that is based on speculation, which the author of the article admits is arbitrary, that two thirds of the oil & products stay in the US instead of heading off on Oil tankers or Supertankers to Asia ).

And the latest, increased, jobs numbers that Trans Canada says will be created are viewed with skepticism by BW.  See excerpt:

Clearly, the construction of the pipe, most of it below ground, will be a huge undertaking. The estimated number of people it will employ in the process, however, has fluctuated wildly, with TransCanada raising the number from 3,500, to 4,200, to 20,000 temporary positions and suggesting the line will employ several hundred on an on-going basis. The U.S. State Department, which made its own assessment because the pipeline crosses the U.S.-Canada border, estimates the line will create just 20 permanent jobs. One advantage of a pipeline, after all, is that it’s automated.

Why Keystone XL pipeline is Such a Bad Idea. One Stop Shopping for Arguments to Help Your Friends Understand

Young man Afraid of his Horses, Chief of Oglala band of Lakota Sioux says "Don't Mess With My Water!"

Credit Wikipedia Clicking on picture should take you to proper page for attribution. See next link for info on YMAOHH, real name: They Fear Even His Horses

The Keystone XL pipeline will only provide temporary jobs except for a rump core of what some have said are 50-100 permanent jobs over the stretch of the line.  As it stands now the pipeline route would endanger the massive Ogallala Aquifer that serves most of the High Plains. See map below.  A spill into the Ogallala could cause a spike in food prices, not to mention hardship and possibly even serious illness in families, especially those with children who can be very sensitive to pollutants, that live in the area and get their drinking water from the massive underground source (much of which may date back to the last ice age).

In recent years the Ogallala has been shrinking because of heavier water use than rate of replenishment.  Good luck diluting out any large spill, and the more South a farmer using aquifer waters is, the more he or she depends on it just as the aquifer has less to offer for use or self protection.

Image from Wikipedia used by Creative Commons license specifically (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Though much of this land may be in corn or cattle pasture at this time, some farmers using Ogallala water have gone into organic farming.  It would  be a great help to our nation to have billions of bushels of veggies and fruits as well as the organic grass fed beef already coming out of the high plains.  If the Ogallala is polluted that scenario is not going to materialize.

And if you live in the region, I feel badly for your family.  Just like with the area around Fukushima, many of the powers that be want this to go through will promise you that everything will be okay. And it is, until it's not.  Then it's disaster.

Read important reports below:

Trans Canada is spending big time bribing House members to get their oil pipeline installed across our nation's heartland.

One video report notes that the original Keystone pipeline has already had 12 spills.

Also, another report says: Pipeline Inspector-Turned Whistleblower Calls Keystone XL a Potential Disaster 

Another important report to read: Keystone XL Primer: Why Nebraska Is Ground Zero in the Pipeline Fight
   Quick Take away (but it's best to read the entire report):

The Keystone XL would be the first oil pipeline to run through the Nebraska sandhills, a fragile area with few pipelines of any kind...

A report from February by the NRDC, Pipeline Safety Trust, Sierra Club and National Wildlife Foundation says diluted bitumen is more acidic and corrosive than conventional crude. It requires operators to run the pipeline at higher pressures, Swift said, leading to more friction inside the pipeline and creating extra heat that can further decrease pipeline safety.

Previous reports on our blog:

Proof that #Keystone XL Pipeline will Take #TarSands oil To Make Gasoline for World Market (Asia)

Canadian Filings Show TransCanada is Lying to Americans About Jobs the Keystone XL Pipeline Would Create

Canadian Filings Show TransCanada is Lying to Americans About Jobs the Keystone XL Pipeline Would Create

Kansas: Swing and Corn Field

Just the safety of much of our food supply and the health of the families of the High Plains are at risk if a massive pipeline is built across the Ogallala Aquifer.

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Remember how TransCanada has been saying that building the Keystone XL pipeline across the breadth of the MidWest would created 20,000 jobs in the US?

Well, their filings with their own government show the real numbers are not so much. Oops, did they say 20k? Well, in the US actually that would be 6k.

Yes, 6000 jobs, most of which will be temporary according to other analyses I've encountered. (In fact, I've heard that only 50 jobs would last beyond the building phase of the pipeline. People just love temporary jobs they can pick up and get busy on while others nab the more permanent jobs.

If the Keystone XL pipeline would create only  temporary jobs en toto,  maybe someone fell asleep and dreamed up that 20k number the pipeline related companies have been feeding to the public through Republican politicians..

I'm guessing that the GOP first taught TransCanada how to lie big-time, in order to get their way.

The good news is that though it's politics as usual and legal to lie to the American public, apparently investors were also deceived over the number of jobs the pipeline would create. That is not allowed under US law.

See ThinkProgress Green: TransCanada’s Dirty Keystone XL Jobs Claims Draw Complaint To SEC

Proof that #Keystone XL Pipeline will Take #TarSands oil To Make Gasoline for World Market (Asia)

The shrill GOP defenders of the Keystone XL pipeline say they are interested in getting that Tar Sands oil to Texas in order to fill gas tanks in the US with cheaper oil, but they are lying.  The fact that the Keystone XL pipeline is being built across a major MidWest aquifer to transport  the tarsands oil to the Gulf Coast proves that the resultant gas will be used for the world market not the US.

There are plenty of refineries in the upper MidWest in with which to refine the tar sands oil and some of them wanted that chance so badly that they were willing to undertake extensive expansion for the chance, which would create 10 times more permanent jobs in the Great Lakes region than the pipeline will. 

Most of the jobs for the Keystone XL pipeline heading for Texas will instead  be temporary ones, and once the tar sands oil reaches it's destination on the Gulf Coast, the resultant product can be dumped onto ships and taken through the Panama canal to Asia keeping gasoline prices just as high as always home.

And that's the reason the world wants the US to endanger the underground water supply (Ogallala aquifer) for a major portion of the MidWest.  Tainted drinking water, anyone?

At least, the GOP should allow enough time for a real analysis of the ability to safely build and maintain that pipeline to be completed, but the Republicans want to posture about the pipeline for the 2012 political race. and can't wait for safety evaluations.   A spill could be incredibly damaging to the upper plains region.

But many interested parties don't like to think about problems that could develop in the future. That's how Japan ended up with a major disaster from the Fukushima nuclear plant.

Is that how we should do things in our nation?

Not if we want to protect the environment and especially regional families' health and well being.  The MidWest shouldn't be held hostage under the threat of public safety crisis to the world gas market.

We need to do the environmental review, do it right and select the proper route for the tar sands oil.

The GOP should stop posturing.  The gas isn't for us.  It won't help us.  So we need to look out for ourselves first and take the time to figure out how to do the job safely.