So Long Keystone
[guest post by JVW]
As anticipated, the Obama Administration today ended the hopes of building the Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada to refineries in states on the Gulf of Mexico. The Administration apparently concedes the argument that the oil will get refined and burned anyway (probably by China) and that the atmosphere will still be, ahem, polluted with just as much carbon as it would have been had the pipeline been built in the United States, but they argue that scotching the plans help position us as a leader in the fight to combat climate change. No doubt China, India, Russia, and Brazil are mightily impressed by our fortitude here.
Anyway, Powerline has a good summary of what the administration is saying and what all of this means. It’s theoretically possible that TransCanada, who owns the shale oil fields, could wait to see if a new President might be willing to resurrect the project, but with all of the remaining Democrat candidates opposed to the idea the company would be better served writing off the U.S. as a partner.
A nice welcome to the hip, young, brand-new Canadian Prime Minister, who supported building the pipeline through the U.S.
– JVW
didn’t food stamp authorize building half of it when he was running for reelection
like the half of it on the other end away from canada
he’s so effing smart he shoulda gone to like harvard
happyfeet (a037ad) — 11/6/2015 @ 12:43 pmthe
happyfeet (a037ad) — 11/6/2015 @ 12:44 pmcompanyentire nation of Canada would be better served writing off the U.S. as a partner.The Administration argues that building the pipeline would only create jobs equivalent to one-tenth of one percent of all jobs in the United States. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 149,120,000 people currently employed in the U.S. That nasty pipeline was thus only going to provide 149,000 jobs — in other words, only about 2.5% percent of the number of people who have gone on Social Security disability since Obama became President (and about 8% of those who have managed to go on long-term disability).
JVW (738b08) — 11/6/2015 @ 12:45 pmAnd the stupidity in Washington continues unabated. Folks, elections have consequences.
Bill M (906260) — 11/6/2015 @ 1:15 pmTo put 149,000 jobs in further context, that’s about enough to fully employ all working-age people in Fremont, California or Irving, Texas.
JVW (738b08) — 11/6/2015 @ 1:19 pmIf I chop off my own penis, I have greatly decreased the risk I have bad sex with women of ill repute.
Now all the other guys …. well, let them have fun.
Rodney King's Spirit (ab8c0d) — 11/6/2015 @ 1:19 pmThey were still fighting with Nebraska over the exact route and weren’t expecting a ruling until after 2017 anyway so this really doesn’t change much. They had actually asked them to defer the ruling until 2017, but of course Obama had to shove his agenda into it. In reality the pipeline WILL get built, as will the one to BC in order to be able to ship it to China (with the increased risk of spilling it due to a tanker accident too) because it serves TransCanada to have the flexibility to sell the oil to either potential customer. In point of fact this oil is not like WTI light sweet crude, this stuff is essentially sulphur laden asphalt, not just any old refinery can handle it, so the number of customers for this crude is limited to the refineries that can handle it. China, Lyondell-Citgo Baytown, and a couple others elsewhere are the only refineries that can handle it so the market is kinda limited.
Rorschach (6fc5f7) — 11/6/2015 @ 1:31 pmObama’s war on American jobs continues unabated. Imagine how many people would have been employed building refineries, updating refineries, working at refineries, etc. Obama can’t even be honest when he is doing what everyone knew he would do. 7 effin’ years and how many studies?
JD (3b5483) — 11/6/2015 @ 1:41 pmCan President Selfie veto the pipeline?
The only reason the feds are involved is because the pipeline crosses an
international border. But that part has been built. So has the Texas to
Oklahoma part. It’s only the middle part that crosses Nebraska that remains.
Ponder the legal issues with the musical aid of Dick Dale (Dick Dale and the
Del Tones) and Stevie Ray Vaughan. “Pipeline.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWw55XhTehg
Steve57 (ccc381) — 11/6/2015 @ 2:08 pmHey, come on, Steve57! As great as both Dick Dale and Stevie Ray Vaughn are, the greatest version of “Pipeline” is the original by the Chantays.
JVW (738b08) — 11/6/2015 @ 2:13 pmMebbe we were negotiating with the wrong border country.
The white one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_DmUvgXLhU
Steve57 (ccc381) — 11/6/2015 @ 2:17 pmIt is perhaps a personal failing of mine, JVW.
But regardless of one’s personal taste in surf music, dammit, the pipeline must be built.
Steve57 (ccc381) — 11/6/2015 @ 2:20 pmYou see JVW, that 149,000 jobs is no good for democrats as they rely on the votes of 149,000 unemployed people on the dole. So to them it’s mission accomplished. They stop the free market in oil dead in its tracks and keep voters on the dole. Unless someone will unionize the pipeline workers you can forget it.
Rev. Barack Hussein Hoagie™ (f4eb27) — 11/6/2015 @ 3:38 pmso long and don’t let the door hit you on the way out!
beni (35842d) — 11/6/2015 @ 3:43 pmIf I chop off my own penis, I have greatly decreased the risk I have bad sex with women of ill repute.
Now all the other guys …. well, let them have fun.
Rodney King’s Spirit (ab8c0d) — 11/6/2015 @ 1:19 pm
Yoda,cut his off 800 years ago, I did! Got tired
of road rash from dragging on ground! Now use force
and handy Ronco gadget to please ladies. After
pleasure, Yoda uses it to cook her wonderful meal.
It slices,it dices, you just can’t believe all of its uses.
😆
Yoda (feee21) — 11/6/2015 @ 4:44 pmTrue enough, but remember one thing: The Chinese don’t give a damn. They will erect however many refineries they need to process this stuff, while we haven’t built a new refinery of any sort for the thick end of 50 years.
Bill H (2a858c) — 11/6/2015 @ 4:48 pm“Goodbye Gold-Brickin’ Toad”
When are you gonna leave office
When are you going to pound sand
You should have stayed in Hawaii
You should have been serving time in the can
You know you can’t stay there forever
We didn’t sign up with you
we’re not a sheeple for your friends to fleece
And it’s time for you to be payin’, some dues
So goodbye you gold-brickin’ toad
And the dogs name of Perry can howl
You can’t even build you an outhouse
you’d hurt yourself ‘hind a plow
Backin’ the the howling old sow in the race
Huntin’ the socialist pantload
Oh we’re certainly hopin’ our future don’t lie
With them, you gold-brickin’ toad
What do you think you’ll do when
Putin shoots down your plane
It’ll take you a couple of vodka and tonics
Cuz the choom has made you so insane
Maybe we’ll get a replacement
There’s plenty like you to be found
Mongrels who ain’t on the menu
Pinching some tidbits like you on the ground
So goodbye you gold-brickin’ toad
And the dogs name of Perry can howl
You can’t even build you an outhouse
you’d hurt yourself ‘hind a plow
Backin’ the the howling old sow in the race
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 11/6/2015 @ 5:11 pmHuntin’ the socialist pantload
Oh we’re certainly hopin’ our future don’t lie
With them, you gold-brickin’ toad
his dick’s in the dirt
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 11/6/2015 @ 5:17 pmno more he chases the skirt
he’s mister gadget
Obama had to give his people something after the shellacking they got in the elections on Monday. But that was not his primary purpose; it was the bonus. We may thing of him as a lame duck, but he is still intent as doing as much harm to America as he can in the time he has left. And he can do a lot.
nk (dbc370) — 11/6/2015 @ 5:48 pmO’Reilly is more of an asshole than I ever thought he was. Just saw his thin-skinned lambasting of George Will with Will on camera as Will stood up for his own criticism of “Killing Reagan”. O-Reilly was visibly shaking with anger. What a flaming asshole!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 11/6/2015 @ 5:54 pmdidn’t take spendy spendy piggyslut paul ryan long to blow through 300 billion borrowed dollars
happyfeet (831175) — 11/6/2015 @ 5:54 pmThe shellacking they got on in the elections on *Tuesday*, I meant to say.
nk (dbc370) — 11/6/2015 @ 6:04 pmBecause posturing and hashtags will save the planet!
Kevin M (25bbee) — 11/6/2015 @ 7:17 pmThe worst president in American history gets worser.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 11/6/2015 @ 7:21 pmtwitter is gayer than the meat in a putin reince priebus sammich
for the love of god what happened to elissa and Mr. daleyrocks
I’m more concerned about Mr. d cause of he’s wrassled some oncological bears in his time
happyfeet (831175) — 11/6/2015 @ 7:22 pmIdiotic liberal greenies like Obama or Gore irritate me to no end if only because while they give the shaft to all the proles out there — the working stiffs who’ll be paying more for Green Earth policies and politics — the leftist environmentalists will be traveling in style in their C02-hogsters and living the high life in a nice, spacious residence in places like Hawaii or Santa Barbara.
But all the gullible moderate- or lower-income people who fall for such crud, by giving higher marks to an Obama than a Bush Jr, or voting in a way that keeps the “Evita” nitwits in power in places running the gamut from Detroit to Venezuela, are just as much to blame.
Mark (f713e4) — 11/6/2015 @ 7:32 pm. In point of fact this oil is not like WTI light sweet crude, this stuff is essentially sulphur laden asphalt, not just any old refinery can handle it, so the number of customers for this crude is limited to the refineries that can handle it.
I seem to remember a similar situation applies to Venezuelan oil.
kishnevi (28fa9f) — 11/6/2015 @ 7:43 pmIf so, Keystone was a sort of competition for Venezuela, and Obama did them a favor with this.
BTW, I want to thank whichever of you gentlemen suggested I put Six Frigates on my reading list. Got it today, and already learned more about British naval gunnery in four pages than I ever knew before.
kishnevi (31ba4e) — 11/6/2015 @ 7:45 pmso here’s my question
if you shunt the canada oil to the chinesers
doesn’t that threaten the marketshare of the saudi royal trash way more than if you refine it and consume it in failmerica?
or is it negligible on that scale of things?
happyfeet (831175) — 11/8/2015 @ 5:45 pmThe Saudi stuff is so light and sweet it is damned near diesel fuel straight out of the well. Every refinery on the planet can deal with it, so the investment needed to handle the Saudi stuff vs the Canadian (or Venezuelan) stuff is far less. With the price of oil at 50 year lows, nobody is going to spend the money to build another heavy crude refinery right now when they can get the good stuff for so cheap.
Rorschach (6fc5f7) — 11/9/2015 @ 6:12 amNobody? We will never know that, since Obama went and denied it.
JD (34f761) — 11/9/2015 @ 6:41 amContract let for Guangdong heavy oil refinery
04/10/2014
happyfeet (a037ad) — 11/9/2015 @ 6:46 amTwo trains derail over the weekend carrying crude.
narciso (ee1f88) — 11/9/2015 @ 6:51 amfailmerica sucks at logistics
we should send observers to china to see how this stuff is done
happyfeet (a037ad) — 11/9/2015 @ 6:54 amBuffett won, America lost.
narciso (ee1f88) — 11/9/2015 @ 7:01 amThe Wall Street Journal noted, over two years ago, that American refiners no longer care whether Keystone is built; they’ve already worked their way around it, through shipments by rail. And it isn’t even a matter of lost American jobs; rail car manufacturers are seeing the additional business in building new tanker cars that pretty much takes the place of the construction jobs which will not be created. While it makes a difference individually, for the overall economy it really doesn’t; it’s simply that different people have the jobs of building the additional rail cars than would have them building the pipeline. Naturally, transportation by rail means burning diesel fuel to run the locomotives which pull the trains, but the left can’t see that part.
But, of course, the real difference environmentally is that transportation by rail is more hazardous, and while a spill generated when a pipeline breaks means that crude oil is spilled onto the ground, a rail car derailment, depending upon where it occurs, can cause tremendous property damage and kill innocent people.
President Fiorina will reverse the decision, of course, but so much time has been lost that it’s doubtful that the Keystone XL pipeline will ever be built. Add to that the dozens of lawsuits which would be filed to stop it, and it becomes obvious: it’s not just President Obama who wants more expensive and more dangerous oil transportation, but the entirety of the “green” movement. If liberals understood anything about economics, they wouldn’t be liberals anymore.
The economist Dana (f6a568) — 11/9/2015 @ 7:10 amJD, the refinery that oil was destined for already exists and was originally built by Citgo/ PDVSA to tale Venezuelan crude, but since the embargo, they aren’t getting that crude.
Rorschach (8ddea0) — 11/9/2015 @ 7:24 amActually Narcisso, one of those derailments was carrying ethanol, yet another Libtard Boondoggle of massive proportions, which cannot be shipped by pipeline because of it’s tendency to glom onto the water that is normally used to separate shipments in a products pipeline.
Rorschach (8ddea0) — 11/9/2015 @ 7:27 amHappy, you’ll note that contract was let prior to the price crash. There is some question whether china will proceed as originally intended or chose to build it for light sweet crude only or if they will slow roll it and wait to see what happens in the oil markets.
Rorschach (8ddea0) — 11/9/2015 @ 7:30 amthis is true but chinesers will figure out a way to import the canada crude just so the failmericans can’t have it
they’re very smart whereas americans are dumb as dirt, so it’s not hard to see how this plays out
happyfeet (a037ad) — 11/9/2015 @ 7:42 amDidn’t know that, Dana,
MD in Philly (not in Philly at the moment) (deca84) — 11/9/2015 @ 8:08 amThanks
Freight trains burn 6 gallons of diesel fuel per mile traveled. You can use that number to scare Leftists into allowing the pipeline. It’s a real statistic. Of course, it’s the most fuel efficient way to move non-pipeline product over land, based on ton-miles. My truck gets 6 or 7 miles per gallon, the second most fuel efficient way to transport non-pipeline freight over land, based on ton-miles. Pipelines are far and away the most fuel efficient and most environmentally safe mode of delivery.
John Hitchcock (123694) — 11/9/2015 @ 8:33 am