Obama drags his feet on Keystone XL, again

[Derec]

Which puts it on the wrong side of the American continent to get to China.

Unless they ever get around to building that canal across the Isthmus of Panama...

I didn't say getting to China from the Gulf is impossible, just that it's not something you want to do if you have other options. Going through the Canal adds time and cost to the journey, not to mention that it limits the tanker size.

And China will be taking a lot of heavy oil from Venezuela anyway, to pay for their debts. But here also it makes more sense to build a pipeline to the Pacific coast of Colombia to avoid having to go through the Canal. But even there Venezuela/PDVSA seems to be failing...

 

[arkirk]

Unless they ever get around to building that canal across the Isthmus of Panama...

I didn't say getting to China from the Gulf is impossible, just that it's not something you want to do if you have other options. Going through the Canal adds time and cost to the journey, not to mention that it limits the tanker size.

And China will be taking a lot of heavy oil from Venezuela anyway, to pay for their debts. But here also it makes more sense to build a pipeline to the Pacific coast of Colombia to avoid having to go through the Canal. But even there Venezuela/PDVSA seems to be failing...

This business as usual idea has to end sometime...like RIGHT NOW! Tar sands need to stay in the ground. There is no room in our atmosphere for this crap.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

http://wuwm.com/post/wisconsin-pipe...ook&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=FBWUWM4747

As debate over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline continues, a much bigger project is underway in Wisconsin.

Starting in 2016, Enbridge Inc., an energy delivery company, plans to boost the capacity of its line running across Wisconsin - from Superior to the Illinois border. Currently, about 400,000 barrels of crude oil flows through the pipeline each day.

While the Keystone would convey more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day, Enbridge’s plan for Line 61 in Wisconsin would increase its flow to 1.2 million barrels.

 

[Derec]

1. As to your picture, how is this different from any other large-scale surface mining operation?
2. Minable oil sands means that oil sands formations are close to surface. That pristine looking river on the left is itself cutting into formations and leeching out chemicals.
3a. Minable oil presents a minority of all economically recoverable oil sands deposits and those deposits in turn represent a small minority of the boreal forest area of Alberta.

3b. Most new oil sands developments are in situ, with a far smaller footprint than mining.

4. Oil sands developments will have to be reclaimed after the production is finished.

This business as usual idea has to end sometime...like RIGHT NOW! Tar sands need to stay in the ground. There is no room in our atmosphere for this crap.

Oil sands are not releasing that much more carbon into the atmosphere than conventional oil if you look at the entire picture, well-to-wheels.