Why is it liberals want to insult all who disagree with them? The "Koch Brothers bought congress". Only in conceit can someone say such a thing. It's as if liberals think that no one else is capable of thinking for themselves. Conservatives, unlike liberals, don't look for a masters hand or boot to lick. You disagree with the pipeline and the conservatives don't. It doesn't mean we were bought by a master like a liberal.
We are moving into the 21st century. Clean alternative energy will rapidly replace Big Fossil. It will be cheaper for all of us, and may be able to prevent the catastrophe of runaway climate change. Big Fossil has about five more years, and they know it. Building the pipeline is like building blacksmith shops, and will be about as useful.
3
Yeah, your brilliant Governor Brown has succeeded in driving about half the profit-making companies out of the state, and the rest are looking for a soft place to land. The KXL will generate thousands of jobs - Big Zero's State Dept tosses out an absurd number connected only with operation of the pipeline in order to make it sound unappealing. It will create thousands of related jobs in refining, transportation, manufacturing (new capital equipment will be needed for refining, transportation, etc.), marketing, advertising, retailing. It will generate millions in tax revenue. It will pump millions into the economy. If it should fail, it costs the taxpayers nothing - that's the risk private industries take - whereas your liberal panacea of government spending COSTS the taxpayers, and when the programs fail (can you say, "Solyndra"? I knew you could!), then the taxpayers get to pay again for the failure. Never mind the fact that we are strategically and tactically vulnerable due to our reliance on oil from - are you ready for this? Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Russia. Smart idea, liberals - create jobs and income for our enemies and false friends, and leave our defense reliant upon purchasing fuels and lubricants from the ones we'll be fighting if there's ever another war. DOH!
1
Mr. Egan: the Koch Brothers are only 24th on the list of major donors. Here's the list:
https://www.opensecrets.org/overview/topindivs.php
Notice who is at the top and the most guilty of buying the most political influence.
Then get back to us.
https://www.opensecrets.org/overview/topindivs.php
Notice who is at the top and the most guilty of buying the most political influence.
Then get back to us.
1
Has anyone checked in with the folks who have been planning on building Keystone XL? With oil below $50/gallon, are they still interested in the project? It will be such great irony when the new Republican majority congress is finally able to approve the pipeline and no one will build it.
2
Mr. Egan is correct that promoting clean energy and rejecting tar sands oil is about investing in the future, not stealing from it.
Coral Davenport and Mitch Smith's article in this issue "Obama Facing Rising Pressure on Oil Pipeline" dismissed any consequences of the XL pipeline as merely political. That is like saying that Neville Chamberlain"s appeasement of Hiltler had little consequence beyond politics.
If we facilitate bringing onto international markets the most polluting oil in the world, what credibility will we have in asking other nations to reduce their use of fossil fuels? We've had a breakthrough with China recently - getting it to agree to replace with clean energy enough coal fired plants to replace the entire electrical generation capacity of the US. And we were key to getting almost 200 countries to agree to set pollution limits in Paris this year. If our Congress now communicates to the world that we will not accept limits even on the dirtiest oil or coal, we cannot expect other countries to do so.
When the ice caps melt, the seas currents stop moving warm waters away from the equator, hurricanes and tornadoes increase in frequency and damage, the parts of this country still above water won't be a pleasant place to live.
Coral Davenport and Mitch Smith's article in this issue "Obama Facing Rising Pressure on Oil Pipeline" dismissed any consequences of the XL pipeline as merely political. That is like saying that Neville Chamberlain"s appeasement of Hiltler had little consequence beyond politics.
If we facilitate bringing onto international markets the most polluting oil in the world, what credibility will we have in asking other nations to reduce their use of fossil fuels? We've had a breakthrough with China recently - getting it to agree to replace with clean energy enough coal fired plants to replace the entire electrical generation capacity of the US. And we were key to getting almost 200 countries to agree to set pollution limits in Paris this year. If our Congress now communicates to the world that we will not accept limits even on the dirtiest oil or coal, we cannot expect other countries to do so.
When the ice caps melt, the seas currents stop moving warm waters away from the equator, hurricanes and tornadoes increase in frequency and damage, the parts of this country still above water won't be a pleasant place to live.
1
it's tragic that so many of our "leaders" in Congress and business are so lacking in environmental knowledge.
And why was it necessary for the State Department to do a study on this disaster waiting to happen instead of the Environmental Protection
Agency - which so many Republicans want to dismantle.
And why was it necessary for the State Department to do a study on this disaster waiting to happen instead of the Environmental Protection
Agency - which so many Republicans want to dismantle.
2
Has anybody mentioned Eminent Domain and the undermining of private property rights that building such a long pipline will entail ?
2
I know how dependent upon both tobacco and coal the economies of Kentucky and West Virginia are, as are the economies of Louisiana, Alaska, Oklahoma and Texas upon petroleum. I realize that preventing the free and unregulated exercise of fossil fuel and tobacco-product production will cost jobs.
But neither the Constitution nor common-sense morality confer an absolute right to earn money any way one sees fit, consequences be damned. Every state and municipality has ordinances and statutes (as does the Federal gov’t) regulating commerce and prohibiting certain practices in furtherance thereof, in order to avoid causing physical harm to workers and consumers alike. Ever since the worst excesses of the Gilded Age began falling away, we as a nation have decided that life and health trump livelihood. Cost-benefit analysis--inherently amoral--should not become our guiding light.
But neither the Constitution nor common-sense morality confer an absolute right to earn money any way one sees fit, consequences be damned. Every state and municipality has ordinances and statutes (as does the Federal gov’t) regulating commerce and prohibiting certain practices in furtherance thereof, in order to avoid causing physical harm to workers and consumers alike. Ever since the worst excesses of the Gilded Age began falling away, we as a nation have decided that life and health trump livelihood. Cost-benefit analysis--inherently amoral--should not become our guiding light.
1
What nonsense and non-science. The author scorns "drill baby drill" noting that the world is currently awash in oil -- does he think that that has occurred by magic? Is he unaware that "drill baby drill" could be the motto driving the fracking boom that has occurred in this country despite the best efforts of Jerry Brown and the pseudo-intellectuals that dominate so-called progressive (actually anti-progress) party. He claims that the only way that the oil sands will be developed is through government subsidies despite the facts that the oil sands development and the pipeline itself is entirely privately funded. And it's hilarious that he makes such a charge while applauding California's "green energy" and high-speed railway projects which are entirely and solely dependent on huge government subsidies. The "rush" to approve the Keystone pipeline comes after 6 years of delays by the Obama administration. The author should start labeling his work as fiction.
What is never debated, discussed or investigated in any editorial or article about the Keystone XL pipeline is why it has to go through the United States, and not through western Canada to the Pacific for shipment or refining? I spent time with some of the owners and vendors of Transcanada oil on a ski trip a few years ago up in Canada (by happenstance they were skiing at the same place we were). They explained that the Native Tribes of Canada and the provinces of Canada had stopped the pipeline from being built over land use and environmental concerns. The window of time to bring the oil to market would close by the time that they had "fought it out in the courts" so they chose the path of least resistance, put the pipeline through the United States.
I find it frustrating and obtuse that the anxieties of our own citizens, who bring up concerns about the pipeline and its environmental impacts, are framed as being shortsighted, naive, or symbolic by both politicians and press. When these are the exact arguments that all but stopped the pipeline from being built in their own country.
How about a well written investigative piece on why the pipeline is not being built in Canada for Canadian oil?
I find it frustrating and obtuse that the anxieties of our own citizens, who bring up concerns about the pipeline and its environmental impacts, are framed as being shortsighted, naive, or symbolic by both politicians and press. When these are the exact arguments that all but stopped the pipeline from being built in their own country.
How about a well written investigative piece on why the pipeline is not being built in Canada for Canadian oil?
1
Blame Henry Ford for making the Model T cheap and available. With everyone rushing to buy the vehicle, suddenly mass transportation was outmoded, outgunned. Ford was also instrumental in purchasing up railways and trains and mothballing them, subsequently, trains that ran on time, were a thing of the past. And then good luck even finding a train to take you somewhere. Ford ushered in an era; era's are destined to fade away. As our importance in the global economy shrinks beside those countries that have been forward thinking and implemented other energy strategies. We need to be mindful that no one but the GOP faithful believe that Global Warming is a hoax. If you have kids and grand kids you should be worried about the world you are leaving them. We don't have 50 years to make a change.
1
The proposed XL pipeline will carry oil, not magic. It is a pipe. It will not have the power to stop climate change or create an economic boom and thousands of great jobs while freeing the U.S. from dependence on foreign oil.
This is a completely symbolic issue. Petroleum products are traded on a global market. If the price for these products makes it profitable to mine the tar sands, it will be done and the product will find a way to market, via XL or by other means. These products will be sold where it is most profitable for the multi-national corporations that control the supply to sell them and it is at least as likely as that will be China or some other country rather than the US. It will not help make us "energy independent". It will not delay climate change.
The U.S. is dependent on the global market, not "foreign" suppliers. Increasing the supply may help drive the price of oil down, but it will not create any form of independence. Lower oil prices will help the portions of the global economy that have high energy costs and hurt the economies involved in producing oil.
The fuss around this pipe is a waste of energy.
This is a completely symbolic issue. Petroleum products are traded on a global market. If the price for these products makes it profitable to mine the tar sands, it will be done and the product will find a way to market, via XL or by other means. These products will be sold where it is most profitable for the multi-national corporations that control the supply to sell them and it is at least as likely as that will be China or some other country rather than the US. It will not help make us "energy independent". It will not delay climate change.
The U.S. is dependent on the global market, not "foreign" suppliers. Increasing the supply may help drive the price of oil down, but it will not create any form of independence. Lower oil prices will help the portions of the global economy that have high energy costs and hurt the economies involved in producing oil.
The fuss around this pipe is a waste of energy.
2
The time is long past to divide this country into two, an action that should have been taken in, oh, about 1800 or so. Egan proves the two sides have nothing in common.
The leftist coastal elites and their know-it-all-attitudes are more than tiring to those of us you dare to live more than four miles from an ocean. Please, form your own "utopia" and leave the rest of us alone.
Thank you.
The leftist coastal elites and their know-it-all-attitudes are more than tiring to those of us you dare to live more than four miles from an ocean. Please, form your own "utopia" and leave the rest of us alone.
Thank you.
1
Thank you again, Tim Egan, for another good article exposing these dynamics. I couldn't wait to vote for Jerry Brown again, and his tireless work on the high-speed rail is just the tip of the enormous good, and forward-moving bills signed into legislation, that he has accomplished for California. Imagine. A politician who cares about the world his grandchildren will inhabit.
1
The California bullet train will cost tens of billions of dollars from the onset, travel at speeds lower than initially promised, and begins construction in an area where NOBODY will use it - in the hopes that the sunk cost will lead people to finish the project and give up their objections. It is a project that will, quite literally, define success by the number of people who surrender their personal freedom of movement to be dependent on public transportation schedules.
Keystone may not create that many permanent jobs (although its funny how attached liberals are to temporary jobless benefits, but not temporary jobs), but it will enable the flow of energy resources that will help to keep it affordable for your average consumer.
Someday, perhaps, the world will be able to produce energy just as cheaply and just as efficiently from wind and solar and other renewables...but that day is not today. When I can fill up my SUV for the same price, and drive it just as far, and enjoy the same horsepower......then we can talk about alternative energy. Until then, forcing a switch to something that costs more while being less efficient (carbon output and efficiency have nothing to do with each other) is not progress.
Keystone may not create that many permanent jobs (although its funny how attached liberals are to temporary jobless benefits, but not temporary jobs), but it will enable the flow of energy resources that will help to keep it affordable for your average consumer.
Someday, perhaps, the world will be able to produce energy just as cheaply and just as efficiently from wind and solar and other renewables...but that day is not today. When I can fill up my SUV for the same price, and drive it just as far, and enjoy the same horsepower......then we can talk about alternative energy. Until then, forcing a switch to something that costs more while being less efficient (carbon output and efficiency have nothing to do with each other) is not progress.
Republican Party is determined to ship $85/barrel oil through the Keystone XL pipeline to a $50/barrel market.
That's loss of $35/barrel. But not to worry; Republicans will make up the difference in volume and more subsidies for the oil industry.
Winners: oil industry and Republican Party. Losers: the American people. But what the heck, two out of three ain't bad.
That's loss of $35/barrel. But not to worry; Republicans will make up the difference in volume and more subsidies for the oil industry.
Winners: oil industry and Republican Party. Losers: the American people. But what the heck, two out of three ain't bad.
1
Well said. This pipeline is a twighlight-zone peace of insanity from every perspective but that to the Koch bothers, who stand to make fortunes they do not need or deserve. This pipeline will leave an environmental and human disaster that they have no intention of taking responsibility for.
Mr. Egan is another Koch addict. He should know that Dems spent more money, that unions are among the biggest contributors, and Tom Steyer grossly outspent the Kochs, yet he persists in the Koch bros fantasy.
Funny, when Dems win it was because if the issues. When they lose, it's the money.
Funny, when Dems win it was because if the issues. When they lose, it's the money.
2
Tim,
This is a great column. You hit all my buttons. I ask you & your readers to consider a responsible way to address the future.
1st, the Keystone XL is not rational. We need pipelines for natural gas to serve urban areas that still use oil to heat their homes. There are thousands of pipeline jobs that could be created to provide America with its abundant cheap, natural gas.
2nd, we must "pivot" on energy from global warming gas emitting combustion because there is a good chance that global warming is NOT a hoax. Clearly, the evidence & physics point in that direction. The real danger of global warming, given the history of mass extinctions, is we may have already gone too far & are risking the 6th extinction. Remember as the Earth warms we will eventually release massive amounts of methane from thawing permafrost. There is no turning back.
Saturation of the atmosphere is also making oceans more acidic & threatens our food supply as the food web dies.
No one really knows when runaway global warming will occur but it makes sense for civilization to pivot away from human generated global warming gasses, ASAP.
I push for investment in superconducting Maglev transport networks. The new Maglev transport is cheaper, faster, & more versatile than high speed rail. It carries trucks.
Maglev can also be used for low-cost space payload launch making it easy to place solar generating capability in orbit & beam 2 cents per kwh electricity to Earth's grids.
This is a great column. You hit all my buttons. I ask you & your readers to consider a responsible way to address the future.
1st, the Keystone XL is not rational. We need pipelines for natural gas to serve urban areas that still use oil to heat their homes. There are thousands of pipeline jobs that could be created to provide America with its abundant cheap, natural gas.
2nd, we must "pivot" on energy from global warming gas emitting combustion because there is a good chance that global warming is NOT a hoax. Clearly, the evidence & physics point in that direction. The real danger of global warming, given the history of mass extinctions, is we may have already gone too far & are risking the 6th extinction. Remember as the Earth warms we will eventually release massive amounts of methane from thawing permafrost. There is no turning back.
Saturation of the atmosphere is also making oceans more acidic & threatens our food supply as the food web dies.
No one really knows when runaway global warming will occur but it makes sense for civilization to pivot away from human generated global warming gasses, ASAP.
I push for investment in superconducting Maglev transport networks. The new Maglev transport is cheaper, faster, & more versatile than high speed rail. It carries trucks.
Maglev can also be used for low-cost space payload launch making it easy to place solar generating capability in orbit & beam 2 cents per kwh electricity to Earth's grids.
1
Once the pipeline is built it won't be economical to send oil through it as less than $50 a barrel. My backup plan is to fill it with water and make it into the largest waterslide flume which Disney can operate and make a handsome profit.
2
Everyone knows President Obama approved Solyndra at a democrat fundraiser based on plans written on a napkin. However, Keystone takes a 5 year review.... and still no decision!
Not worth reading the article when he mentions the 35 permanent jobs that will be created. He "forgot" to mention the thousands and thousands of direct and indirect jobs that will be created - good, high-paying jobs that do not require a college education.
It is also not worth reading when he supports the $68-billion boondoggle (it will more likely be $168 billion) that will bleed billions of taxpayer dollars every year.
It is also not worth reading when he supports the $68-billion boondoggle (it will more likely be $168 billion) that will bleed billions of taxpayer dollars every year.
1
With the price of oil so low, the discussion about Keystone XL is largely moot. I suspect Trans-Canada and other backers might not be all that disappointed if KXL doesn't get built. Tar sands cost too much to extract and ship to refineries at $45 - $50 a barrel.
It's just turned into a political football and nothing more. Theater for the elephants and donkeys.
It's just turned into a political football and nothing more. Theater for the elephants and donkeys.
1
Koch brother's Congress? Don't you mean the "Koch Brrther's Government"? After all, President Obama appears to be fully on board this bizarre Far Right sponsored train ride too.
1
It's a watershed moment ( already! ) for the incoming Republican House and Senate that the Keystone Pipeline is the most important priority on the first day of business. I shudder to think of the coming days. Those of us on the East or West coast do not give it much thought because it will be running through wide flatlands in the middle of our country. And for people in the middle, who cares when your next door neighbor is 10 or 20 miles away? The price of good grade oil is at an all time low and tumbling down as we speak. Let the Saudis downgrade their golden faucets with copper ones. That's not our problem! So why do we need low grade oil from Canada or by fracking through a pipeline which would have disastrous environmental consequences? Gov. Jerry Brown and James Inhofe are prime examples of what should be and not be for the future of our Beautiful Country.
1
A Canadian pipeline burst in my state right in the Kalamazoo river. It still is polluted. Good luck comrades, the world will be a very dirty place after I'm gone.
2
It always strikes me that power plants surroundings are deadly for breathing people, that, maybe, we should have a rule that the owners of power plants should be forced to live right next to it.
Why not invest in clean energy? it is a win win situation, we clean our beautiful Country, and make money selling the technology to the world.
What a legacy for a rich family name! Koch brothers, why don't you use the huge amount of money you made in this Country to make it better?
Why not invest in clean energy? it is a win win situation, we clean our beautiful Country, and make money selling the technology to the world.
What a legacy for a rich family name! Koch brothers, why don't you use the huge amount of money you made in this Country to make it better?
1
The President should trade the pipeline for his community college plan ... if the Congress doesn't bite, veto the pipeline ...
We do need a pipeline, several to be exact, but we don't need the Keystone XL pipeline (which would not deliver any oil products to the American market). Keystone will move bitumen for export (the Gulf Coast refineries are already at capacity). What we really NEED is a new refinery complex in northern North Dakota - one that can handle the bitumen from Alberta and the shale oil from the Bakken and convert those into raw materials into finished products for the American market. What we NEED is more fuel oil in New England and more gasoline in California - these products would reduce shortages and prices in the American market. A refinery complex in North Dakota could be entirely fueled by the natural gas we are currently flaring off into the atmosphere from the Bakken - enough to power a city of 350,000 every year. The oil industry has been saying we need more refinery capacity for the past twenty years - isn't it time we started to build some? If you REALLY want jobs in America, we need to process our own oil and the tar sands bitumen, not ship the raw bitumen overseas. Keystone XL is totally a scam by the Kochs and their fellow travelers.
6
How is the Keystone Pipeline going to be a boon to this country's energy independence? That oil is designed to be sold overseas. Moreover, even if the oil was sold on the open market, do you really think that the owners will sell their product here for a lower price than they could get overseas?
If that pipeline is such a great deal, why can't they either build a refinery or place the oil on barges and ship it directly to China and other countries?
Moreover, the price of oil is at an all time low. Where is the economic incentive?
What about an environmental disaster and millions of gallons of oil leak in the aquifer for those areas that the pipeline crosses? Would it really be a good deal?
Trans-Canada epitomizes the philosophy that is so prevalent on Wall Street. The public takes the risks and pay for it if the wheels fall off while they take the profits.
If that pipeline is such a great deal, why can't they either build a refinery or place the oil on barges and ship it directly to China and other countries?
Moreover, the price of oil is at an all time low. Where is the economic incentive?
What about an environmental disaster and millions of gallons of oil leak in the aquifer for those areas that the pipeline crosses? Would it really be a good deal?
Trans-Canada epitomizes the philosophy that is so prevalent on Wall Street. The public takes the risks and pay for it if the wheels fall off while they take the profits.
Ok. Doesn't this article strike any sane person as enormous chutzpa. Timothy Egan brings up the lack of needing more investment in oil and gas because oil is at a low because of our investment in oil and gas!!!
Then a brief interlude where he calls out a senator for denialism and then blames earthquakes on fracking!!!! Really no sense of irony there. Unless God is raining plagues on the land (Which I am sure Egan does not believe) this seems like scientific hooey.
Then finally he laments subsidies for oil and gas (Pretty small beer but ok) and then brings up the bullet train which is sucking in more subsidies than any transportation project in history. This train to the future (I think trains were the future in Atlas Shrugged as well) will cost more than the US spends in transportation infrastructure in the year. After it is built it will need an enormous operating subsidy. More than nearly any transportation project ever built.
As I said Chutzpa.
Then a brief interlude where he calls out a senator for denialism and then blames earthquakes on fracking!!!! Really no sense of irony there. Unless God is raining plagues on the land (Which I am sure Egan does not believe) this seems like scientific hooey.
Then finally he laments subsidies for oil and gas (Pretty small beer but ok) and then brings up the bullet train which is sucking in more subsidies than any transportation project in history. This train to the future (I think trains were the future in Atlas Shrugged as well) will cost more than the US spends in transportation infrastructure in the year. After it is built it will need an enormous operating subsidy. More than nearly any transportation project ever built.
As I said Chutzpa.
Blaming pollution on the Koch brother is a bit infantile, even for a liberal columnist. Lets remember, left leaning Labor Unions support the Keystone Pipeline and many Democrats are against the White House war on coal.
But the rosy portrait of this contentious rail shows a willful omission of the facts. Here are some points Mr. Egan conveniently forgot:
- The project has already been delayed almost two years.
- It was supposed to be $33 Billion dollars, costs have doubled even before ground breaking to $68,000,000,000 dollars.
- Cash in hand is around $12.6 Billion, meaning more than 5/6 of the project remains unfunded (thus pie in sky reference).
- There is zero private sector buy in, no Fed funds forthcoming.
- Not all land acquired for the line, court cases still pending may bar further eminent domain land grabs
- Fierce opposition from Fresno area farms, working class families.
- Increased gas prices due to new cap and trade taxes passed to cover ballooning costs.
- Real travel times are going to be around 4.5 hours (due to shared tracks with slower trains), only 1-2 hours less than driving, 2-3 hours more than flying.
- Lacking local public transportation options in SF and LA, riders may still need to get cars or cabs.
- Even former supporters like Quentin Kopp (former chairman of HiSp Rail Authority) oppose it.
- All jobs will be temporary, as in all infrastructure projects, like the Keystone Pipeline.
Why not mention any of this Mr. Egan?
But the rosy portrait of this contentious rail shows a willful omission of the facts. Here are some points Mr. Egan conveniently forgot:
- The project has already been delayed almost two years.
- It was supposed to be $33 Billion dollars, costs have doubled even before ground breaking to $68,000,000,000 dollars.
- Cash in hand is around $12.6 Billion, meaning more than 5/6 of the project remains unfunded (thus pie in sky reference).
- There is zero private sector buy in, no Fed funds forthcoming.
- Not all land acquired for the line, court cases still pending may bar further eminent domain land grabs
- Fierce opposition from Fresno area farms, working class families.
- Increased gas prices due to new cap and trade taxes passed to cover ballooning costs.
- Real travel times are going to be around 4.5 hours (due to shared tracks with slower trains), only 1-2 hours less than driving, 2-3 hours more than flying.
- Lacking local public transportation options in SF and LA, riders may still need to get cars or cabs.
- Even former supporters like Quentin Kopp (former chairman of HiSp Rail Authority) oppose it.
- All jobs will be temporary, as in all infrastructure projects, like the Keystone Pipeline.
Why not mention any of this Mr. Egan?
Let's be clear, a pipeline that transports 800,000 barrels a day of tar sands oil will never be safe. It's dangerous by definition. is pathetic, absurd and insalely dump.
Not so much the Saudis ... they can turn a profit at prices even lower than today's market.
1
We have religious fanatics abroad and I am sorry to say a fabulist Congress at home. They are scary. Neither bodes well for our future.
1
This is an example of how Congress is bought and sold by the oligarchs. U.S. Citizens will not benefit in the least from this boondoggle. Only the Koch Brothers and Canadian oil interests are going to profit. The Koch Brothers profit twice--once from the oil sands in Canada they control, and next from the dirty crude refineries they own in Louisiana. And with the dramatic fall in crude prices the profits may be so low that the project will self-destruct. Then we have the potential environmental disaster of a leaky pipeline polluting the land and our principal agricultural aquifer. So lets give up on the idea that this is being promulgated because it benefits the U.S. public. It doesn't. However, having spent millions to place minions in Congress, the Koch Brothers want their pound of flesh. If the pipeline goes down the spigot on the cash-flow for right-wing lackey candidates may well be turned off. No wonder this is a "must pass" bill in Congress. It stinks, and not only the dirty cruce.
2
There are over a million miles of oil pipelines in thiw country. The idea that this one is somehow different and poses a major threat to the environment is a joke. Also the fact that there will only a few jobs once its finished ignores the thousands of well paying construction jobs. It is like dismissing the economic value of building an office building since once it's done it only employees a couple of door men and janitors. The reality is a small segment of the population who just happen to be a major part of the democratic base and large campaign donors don't want it and the president will do their bidding.
1
Who knows if high-speed rail is the answer, but California needs to do something. There's not room on its highways for a single more car.
Oil is not going away for a long time. It is needed for large scale transport of goods and the manufacture of solar cells, if I'm not mistaken. Therefore let's use it wisely to build the things that will reduce it's use. Let's have a massive infrastructure job creating renewable energy conversion for home and commercial energy. Let's see the next President put solar panels back up en masse on The White House!
Environmentalists would like the energy to remain in the ground, which is where their own heads are as well.
1
The pipeline is not CO2 neutral. If you are comparing it to other methods of delivery, you might imagine it is so, but any infrastructure created to exploit extreme fossil with concomitant waste and toxic origins, is not neutral.
2
Jerry Brown has a long way to go to balance the California budget.
According to the Sacramento Bee; "the budget is balanced because it provides enough money to pay the obligations that he (Brown) and the Legislature choose to pay. (including enormous unfunded liabilities) But when what they choose not to pay is included, the budget is billions, even tens of billions, of dollars out of balance."
According to the Sacramento Bee; "the budget is balanced because it provides enough money to pay the obligations that he (Brown) and the Legislature choose to pay. (including enormous unfunded liabilities) But when what they choose not to pay is included, the budget is billions, even tens of billions, of dollars out of balance."
4
The Keystone and it's dirty oil is being transported through the US to the gulf coast for export to China! We don't need it and no one should want it. The republican right news machine is insidious. Even NPR is affected. Their report said fracking uses a lot of fluid. Fluid? Water, let's be specific. Even they are on the slippery slope. So fracking fools pollute the water, waste the water, pollute the air, risk earth tremors and earth quakes to sell to China. Let Canada do it themselves and export it themselves. And the hypocritical republican right who hates the federal government, ran to DC looking for help when their oil cash cow dropped to $50 barrel. These outrages have plenty of evidence, yet the brainwashed listen to McConnell claim credit for job growth by virtue of nothing but hubris and flat out lies. The whole game plan of the republican right is to take down the federal government and all their regulations so companies can do what they want, charge what they, pollute what they want all in the bogus name of the free market. The republican right's rigged market just as their new rules "dynamic scoring" of tax cuts. These rules let the right assert that tax cuts won't cost what they will truly cost, thus making it easy for the right to provide this money to their friends. The right is also introducing bills to cut social security disability and to make those who work 30 hours a week ineligible for the ACA. The right&the rich have been in bed too long.
7
Ugh. Just for a day, I wish liberals would work at a private business that is dependent on what people will voluntarily purchase and how much things cost. It's very easy to push for different policies when there's no question being put to consumers. It's just jammed down their throats.
Alternative Energy - Egan deifies Governor Brown who already has a law on the book which will require 1/3 of power within CA to come from alternative sources by 2018 ... and he's talked about increasing it even further. Here's the problem . Alternative Energy is more expensive than fossil fuels. Liberals like to talk about how the cost of things like solar have come down. That's great. So they should compete in the open market, right ? Nope. Liberals no better than that. Here's the costs of producing power according to the Department of Energy:
Nat Gas (Combined Cycle) - $64 / Mwh
Wind - $80/ Mwh
Solar - $130/ Mwh
So Wind is 25% more expensive than Nat Gas and Solar is 2x as expensive. And it's worse than that. Wind and Solar don't always work. Sometimes it's not windy or not cloudy. So you need a backup (which is usually nat gas) anyway. How about asking if customers want all that cost ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source
High Speed Train - The construction cost of this thing has doubled since being approved 5 years ago to over $69 billion now. It's basically a train to nowhere right now.
Alternative Energy - Egan deifies Governor Brown who already has a law on the book which will require 1/3 of power within CA to come from alternative sources by 2018 ... and he's talked about increasing it even further. Here's the problem . Alternative Energy is more expensive than fossil fuels. Liberals like to talk about how the cost of things like solar have come down. That's great. So they should compete in the open market, right ? Nope. Liberals no better than that. Here's the costs of producing power according to the Department of Energy:
Nat Gas (Combined Cycle) - $64 / Mwh
Wind - $80/ Mwh
Solar - $130/ Mwh
So Wind is 25% more expensive than Nat Gas and Solar is 2x as expensive. And it's worse than that. Wind and Solar don't always work. Sometimes it's not windy or not cloudy. So you need a backup (which is usually nat gas) anyway. How about asking if customers want all that cost ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source
High Speed Train - The construction cost of this thing has doubled since being approved 5 years ago to over $69 billion now. It's basically a train to nowhere right now.
8
Please quote value of Fed. subsides to oil,Nat Gas and coal industries then offer quotes on cost of oil coal Nat gas with out such subsides and tax breaks. There is a reason petrol is equal to about $10-12 USA gallon in Europe and about 6 USD in CAN this past summer….
Excellent points, just want to add variable energy resources also require conventional energy reserves to account for the variability. If California went all renewable businesses and people would relocate in a heartbeat.
Okay, enough about the dirty oil from the dirty tar sands in Canada. Yes, that's the same dirty tar sands oil that the US currently inports from Canada for domestic consumption. Where are the protests at the US/Canada border decrying this unacceptable state of affairs? Perhaps they all protesting in front of coal burning power plants in the States which still provide for 30% of the US energy needs. Of course not. Let's just pick on Canada and deny them the opportunity to do what the US is doing; drilling and extracting more oil than ever. But wait, 'our US oil is cleaner oil, right?' Besides, two wrongs don't make a right, the pundits will no doubt shout back. But they convently turn a blind eye to the one wrong as long as it's not the dirty oil from the dirty tar sands from Canada.
I hate to tell you this Timothy, however, Canada will continue to extract this oil and with our Energy East strategy enacted in the next few years, we will transport it to Eastern Canada by "dreaded" pipeline for refining, domestic consumption and perhaps even for export. Never mind the Koch brothers, this is a made in Canada solution.
Meanwhile we continue to invest in renewable sources of energy as well, such as hydro power, and wind turbines. We Canadians are also very concerned about the impact of fossil fuels on the environment but we certainly don't need to be lectured by US based pundits especially given your track record on polluting the global environment. Give it a rest already.
I hate to tell you this Timothy, however, Canada will continue to extract this oil and with our Energy East strategy enacted in the next few years, we will transport it to Eastern Canada by "dreaded" pipeline for refining, domestic consumption and perhaps even for export. Never mind the Koch brothers, this is a made in Canada solution.
Meanwhile we continue to invest in renewable sources of energy as well, such as hydro power, and wind turbines. We Canadians are also very concerned about the impact of fossil fuels on the environment but we certainly don't need to be lectured by US based pundits especially given your track record on polluting the global environment. Give it a rest already.
2
I'm in favor of a carbon tax and of investing in alternative energy, but Mr. Egan is over praising Gov. Brown, whose greatest achievement was arriving in Sacramento just as the NASDAQ boomed, venture capital went wild, and real estate bottomed out. His "reforms" of the vastly underfunded state pension and retiree health benefit schemes were timid and short term, and will not survive the next economic downturn. His tax proposal increased California's boom and bust budget cycle by doubling down on hard to predict capital gains revenue. His water proposal is controversial and his high speed rail is 20% funded, with much more practical alternatives (like expanding public transit in SF, LA and SD) still in need of funds. Gov Brown's popularity is proof of two adages: first, do no harm, and second, timing is everything.
5
A veto of the pipeline is not the end of the world. Canadian Crude is now talked about being moved to eastern Canada by existing pipelines being re tasked. All you will do is make Canada truly oil independent as today, Eastern Canada imports oil while Western Canada exports oil to the US. Whether the oil moves east and west or south is of little concern to the Canadian Government. Alberta is seen as the economic engine of Canada's resource industry. The recession, buy America rules, manufacturing repatriation, and Ontario's business destroying "Green Energy" policies having destroyed Ontario's place as the powerhouse of the Canadian Federation. The federal government will steamroller over any domestic threat it sees to the continued development of Canada's resources. Environmentalists will not win against the current conservative government or against a liberal government because of the nature of Canada where "have provinces" distribute wealth to "have not" provinces via the federal government in "equalization payments". Oil was and will be the biggest game in town and every party knows it, unless we figure a way to ship our abundant water to your southwest. Oh wait that would require a pipeline too. Guess that won't happen either.
4
Excellent insight from the forward thinking Mr. Egan. More data to consider:
Talking points from our conservative officials in Washington DC include the 5K-40K direct/indirect jobs created during the 12 months of Keystone XL construction. When the pipeline is complete so are those jobs. According to the High Speed Rail Authority in CA, job creation for the state-of-the-art rail system will reach 67K, but not for just 12 months. The bullet train would create 67K jobs for the next 180 months (15 years).
Still, high speed rail is a massive burden on the tax payers, right? $4.5 Billion dollars for the next 15 years ($68 billion total). A waste of money for sure – unless you consider what our nation spent (and may in the future be willing to spend) on the 10 year, $2 Trillion dollar Iraq War. One of the worst foreign policy decisions in our countries history for the humiliating cost of more than $166 Billion a year. For that amount of money -- tax payers in 41 states could start nextgen clean-energy infrastructure projects, create 2.7 million jobs, and a world-leading system of transportation for the 22nd century.
Fossil fuel/GOP v Future Fuel/Dem
Talking points from our conservative officials in Washington DC include the 5K-40K direct/indirect jobs created during the 12 months of Keystone XL construction. When the pipeline is complete so are those jobs. According to the High Speed Rail Authority in CA, job creation for the state-of-the-art rail system will reach 67K, but not for just 12 months. The bullet train would create 67K jobs for the next 180 months (15 years).
Still, high speed rail is a massive burden on the tax payers, right? $4.5 Billion dollars for the next 15 years ($68 billion total). A waste of money for sure – unless you consider what our nation spent (and may in the future be willing to spend) on the 10 year, $2 Trillion dollar Iraq War. One of the worst foreign policy decisions in our countries history for the humiliating cost of more than $166 Billion a year. For that amount of money -- tax payers in 41 states could start nextgen clean-energy infrastructure projects, create 2.7 million jobs, and a world-leading system of transportation for the 22nd century.
Fossil fuel/GOP v Future Fuel/Dem
15
Wow - if the CA high speed rail project is such a winner, why has it not attracted even $1 of private capital? And if you believe the real cost is $68B, you must be living on Mars -- or at least outside of CA and the shadow of governor moonbeam.
Interestingly, the last few Republican governors of Florida have continued to thwart the popular vote of it's citizens on the issue of a bullet train from Miami to Orlando for almost two decades. One of those was Jeb Bush, who, after it passed overwelmingly by popular vote, sunk the project. This was a trend continued by the republican governors that have ruled uninterrupted to this day, even though it was voted for in several elections.
8
Lower energy costs are a HUGE benefit to every American !
Keystone would drive prices even lower which would increase the benefits!
When consumers & businesses have lower energy costs they spend the mo0ney saved on other goods & services which increases economic growth & creates jobs !
The $68B high speed train will be a bigger white elephant than Amtrak !
Why can't people learn from past experiences and use their intelligence ???
Keystone would drive prices even lower which would increase the benefits!
When consumers & businesses have lower energy costs they spend the mo0ney saved on other goods & services which increases economic growth & creates jobs !
The $68B high speed train will be a bigger white elephant than Amtrak !
Why can't people learn from past experiences and use their intelligence ???
7
"Why can't people learn from past experiences and use their intelligence ???"....You do know that ever developed country outside the U.S., including China has high speed rail? Then again maybe you haven't tried to fly recently.
22
Drive prices lower (temporarily) while destroying a chance to grow the next technologies that will power our children's future. How is that a good trade-off? Its generationally selfish. Our kids will be buying German and Chinese high-tech with whatever dollars they can afford to spend, while foreign companies who spent time and money developing those products reap the rewards. Not Americans. Or at least, not American companies that will be operating in America once they complete their inversion strategies. Learn from past experience, indeed! Wake up! Building a pipeline isn't innovation. Building the nation's first bullet train will generate new ideas and teach us a lot of lessons that we can leverage for others in the future. Your future looks a lot like today's Nigeria and Russia. The other way looks like Germany and China, countries investing in a future of innovation. Don't be pennywise and pound-foolish!
The permanent jobs are 35 because T. Egan is not counting any job done by contractors in building the pipeline.
According to T. Egan's calculation then, road and infrastructure building creates zero jobs.
According to T. Egan's calculation then, road and infrastructure building creates zero jobs.
9
Huh? Construction jobs are never counted as permanent simply because they are, in fact, not permanent.
Pipelines create few permanent jobs as they move product from oil field to refinery. Because we have approved no new refineries in the US in the past 40 years, no "new development" jobs will be created, either. Roads and infrastructure make it possible to move people and goods inexpensively, and encourage development of factories, offices, and other new ventures, all of which need new permanent workers.
1
The permanent jobs are 35 because those are the number of jobs that will be permanently created. The construction jobs are transient and is estimated at a few thousand for a couple of years. What is so hard to understand?
Ya know... we hard-working, honest, religious citizens of flyover country just shake our heads when we read all the coastal elitism published in the NYT news, commentaries and reader comments.
You live in a whole other world, where 2 + 2 = pink and political beliefs are self-serving.
Gosh almighty- you folks need a realistic perspective!
You live in a whole other world, where 2 + 2 = pink and political beliefs are self-serving.
Gosh almighty- you folks need a realistic perspective!
9
"2 + 2 = pink".....And Canadian tar sand oil breaks even at $85 a barrel. Even people who live in the middle of the country can do the math.
23
I think you're laboring under some misconceptions yourself in implying that we on the coasts are dishonest and lazy.
1
Chicago is flyover country? Realistic perspective? Try thinking beyond your wallet and whatever political prejudices you seem to be carrying about our national environmental policy. Self-serving indeed! There are more people living on our block than live in entire counties of the midwest. Why simply living in 'flyover country' qualifies for some kind of special political privilege is beyond me. The environment of the nation suffers at the hands of the nation, not just those who live on the coasts. Building a cross-continental pipeline for no good reason (50 or 350 jobs doesn't cut it) makes no sense, whether or not you're in flyover country, a Republican, or religious.
"The Keystone pipeline, though largely symbolic in the global scheme of things, does nothing for the American economy except set up the United States as a pass-through colony for foreign industrialists. '
This is one of those false narratives the "progressives" rely on so much to make arguments. The fact that the narrative is false invalidates the argument, I guess "progressives" just hope no one notices. With respect to this specific false narrative it is refuted by the State Department Environmental Impact Study which states the following:
Exports of Canadian crude are “unlikely to be economically justified for any significant durable trade given transport costs and market conditions.” Once [Canadian crude] arrives at the Gulf Coast, Gulf Coast refiners have a significant competitive advantage in processing compared to foreign refiners who would have to incur additional transportation charges to have the crude oil delivered from the Gulf Coast to their location. Gulf Coast refiners’ traditional sources of heavy crudes, particularly Mexico and Venezuela are declining and are expected to continue. Both the EIA’s 2013 AEO and EnSys WORLD model indicate that this demand for heavy crude in the Gulf Coast refineries is likely to persist. EnSys modeling shows no export of light or heavy crude carried on Keystone XL or any other pipeline into PADD 3 onward to overseas markets, confirming the barriers that PADD 3 heavy crude demand and transport costs
This is one of those false narratives the "progressives" rely on so much to make arguments. The fact that the narrative is false invalidates the argument, I guess "progressives" just hope no one notices. With respect to this specific false narrative it is refuted by the State Department Environmental Impact Study which states the following:
Exports of Canadian crude are “unlikely to be economically justified for any significant durable trade given transport costs and market conditions.” Once [Canadian crude] arrives at the Gulf Coast, Gulf Coast refiners have a significant competitive advantage in processing compared to foreign refiners who would have to incur additional transportation charges to have the crude oil delivered from the Gulf Coast to their location. Gulf Coast refiners’ traditional sources of heavy crudes, particularly Mexico and Venezuela are declining and are expected to continue. Both the EIA’s 2013 AEO and EnSys WORLD model indicate that this demand for heavy crude in the Gulf Coast refineries is likely to persist. EnSys modeling shows no export of light or heavy crude carried on Keystone XL or any other pipeline into PADD 3 onward to overseas markets, confirming the barriers that PADD 3 heavy crude demand and transport costs
3
Great article, thank you.
Now with current oil prices making Canadian tar sands oil unprofitable, I figured the Keystone pipeline project becomes an uneconomic, "white elephant". However, the comment of "tax subsidy" is a concern. I can imagine the Republican controlled congress packaging a deal that the conciliatory Obama bites on, allowing a big tax break for the development of the white elephant.
As for Jerry Brown running for President, no way. Mr. Brown is on a mission and recognizes the lost cause of running for national office. He is far more effective as the governor of a progressive state, than he would be attempting to collaborate with the bought off, regressive WDC crowd and the self preservation tactics of the fossil fuel industry.
Now with current oil prices making Canadian tar sands oil unprofitable, I figured the Keystone pipeline project becomes an uneconomic, "white elephant". However, the comment of "tax subsidy" is a concern. I can imagine the Republican controlled congress packaging a deal that the conciliatory Obama bites on, allowing a big tax break for the development of the white elephant.
As for Jerry Brown running for President, no way. Mr. Brown is on a mission and recognizes the lost cause of running for national office. He is far more effective as the governor of a progressive state, than he would be attempting to collaborate with the bought off, regressive WDC crowd and the self preservation tactics of the fossil fuel industry.
4
Since 2010, the 112th and 113th congress’s, that have endured unceasing obstruction led by Boehner in the House and McConnell in the Senate, are the most shameful, lowest rated and least effective in US history. The GOP comes out of this with hardly not enough shreds of moral or intellectual respectability to support the spectacularly preposterous claim by McConnell that current economic growth reflected “the expectation of a new Republican Congress.” What unmitigated gall!
5
A few clarifications and corrections are in order regarding Jerry Brown. Brown "balanced a runaway California budget" primarily with budget cuts to programs for the most vulnerable of California's citizens: children, the ill and elderly.
Brown, like the rest of the Democrat and Republican politicians, stood back and allowed fracking to proceed throughout the state, putting aquifers at risk in a state ravaged by drought.
The only "old strain in the American character" I see in Brown is the tendency of Democrats to attempt a facade of liberalism with populist rhetoric and the occasional "bold plans" that won't culminate until some distant timeline. Brown's environmental record, like virtually all Democrats, is a mixed bag.
The basic message of this op-ed is, look how God-awful the Republicans are so please vote for Democrats. That didn't work very well in the midterms and, so far, it looks like the Dems are still going to try to run with that in 2016.
Brown, like the rest of the Democrat and Republican politicians, stood back and allowed fracking to proceed throughout the state, putting aquifers at risk in a state ravaged by drought.
The only "old strain in the American character" I see in Brown is the tendency of Democrats to attempt a facade of liberalism with populist rhetoric and the occasional "bold plans" that won't culminate until some distant timeline. Brown's environmental record, like virtually all Democrats, is a mixed bag.
The basic message of this op-ed is, look how God-awful the Republicans are so please vote for Democrats. That didn't work very well in the midterms and, so far, it looks like the Dems are still going to try to run with that in 2016.
Let's be clear. The reason the Koch brothers invest in politicians is exactly for these reasons. They have invested in the Alberta tar sands, and the Keystone pipeline would be a way to bring that energy to market.
They have a very willing audience in Congress, anxious to do their bidding because of the money they have poured into various successful Congressional campaigns.
Which brings us back to the first point. The Kochs as well as the other big money that swirls around our elected politicians, does so because the returns on investment are astronomical.
Mr. Egan again stands in the forefront of NYT columnists for writing about meaningful issues that should receive more coverage in the press.
Thank you Mr. Egan.
They have a very willing audience in Congress, anxious to do their bidding because of the money they have poured into various successful Congressional campaigns.
Which brings us back to the first point. The Kochs as well as the other big money that swirls around our elected politicians, does so because the returns on investment are astronomical.
Mr. Egan again stands in the forefront of NYT columnists for writing about meaningful issues that should receive more coverage in the press.
Thank you Mr. Egan.
12
The Koch brothers own no producing fields in Alberta and for the most part have had no comment on the subject. In fact expanding world oil supplies by ending the Canadian blockade would have lowered oil prices years ago and cut into their profits.
Egan does not work for the NYT although he appears to be suitably uninformed for their readership.
Egan does not work for the NYT although he appears to be suitably uninformed for their readership.
I am so glad that I live on the progressive west coast rather the regressive east. It shocks me to see the chairmen of some of committees as totally ignorant of most anything. Exactly what does it take to chair a committee? Ignorance or the seat due to no one else wanting it...
6
Ahem, Sen. Inhofe is from Oklahoma; his views are in fact not widely shared by those of us on the East Coast.
Interesting view from Unicorns and Blue Ferries world of the Envirowackos.
4
Oil may be cheap now Mr. Egan but we all know the low price won't last.
2
Since Canadian tar sand oil breaks even at $85 a barrel, why don't we wait to build the KXL when/if it becomes profitable again?
2
All the more reason to ween ourselves from it!
"At some point, the only way the Keystone XL can be profitably built and operated is with a huge subsidy from taxpayers."
Not only that, the only way Keystone XL can be built at all is through the economic power of private corporations using the police power of the state to confiscate private property through eminent domain.
Not only that, the only way Keystone XL can be built at all is through the economic power of private corporations using the police power of the state to confiscate private property through eminent domain.
13
@Kevin,
That is true of railroads, gas pipes, roads electrical lines, reservoirs, etc.
For example, NYC "confiscated" land upstate to ensure its water supply.
So what's your point? The land has to paid for at fair market price.
That is true of railroads, gas pipes, roads electrical lines, reservoirs, etc.
For example, NYC "confiscated" land upstate to ensure its water supply.
So what's your point? The land has to paid for at fair market price.
Except for creating the national parks, Americans have been pretty much environmental idiots concerning how they have treated this once beautiful land seized from the aboriginal inhabitants.
11
Our tar sands oil is going to market whether you Americans approve Keystone XL or not. The alternative to pipelines is Rail which is more polluting, more dangerous and more expensive.
A vote against Keystone is a vote to use rail to transport our oil to market.
A vote against Keystone is a vote to use rail to transport our oil to market.
5
"The alternative to pipelines is Rail which is more polluting, more dangerous and more expensive.".....and more likely to stay Canada.
5
It is not more likely to stay in Canada.
http://www.bnn.ca/News/2014/4/16/Energy-Watch-Canadian-crude-by-rail-cos...
http://www.bnn.ca/News/2014/4/16/Energy-Watch-Canadian-crude-by-rail-cos...
" ...the Koch brothers are one of the largest outside leaseholders of acres in Canadian oil sands..., " that basically tells you who has bought the republican representatives and why they overwhelmingly passed the XL Pipeline. It's not about what is best for America and its citizens. The Koch brothers were responsible for piles of petroleum coke next to the Detroit River that posed serious risk to the water and air and caused health problems for the Detroit children. The brothers only care about their insatiable greed and want to use our country as their patsy.
There is NO reason to pass the XL Pipeline, oil prices are below $50, it goes on the world market and doesn't stay in America. The price of gas for Americans won't be connected to the XL Pipeline..it just won't ! To put our biggest aquifier in danger for a foreign oil company is insane and in my book criminal. That aquifier provides safe and clean water to millions of Americans and necessary water for our farmers. What the $$$$ is wrong with these republicans and some dems, don't you have children or care about your family and realize once you destroy our biggest source of clean water you can NEVER go back ! Shame on every sold out republican to the Koch brothers, shame on you ! 35 jobs and yet the republicans continually propagandize the number to thousands...they disgust me ! Stay strong President Obama and Senate Dems...we're watching !
There is NO reason to pass the XL Pipeline, oil prices are below $50, it goes on the world market and doesn't stay in America. The price of gas for Americans won't be connected to the XL Pipeline..it just won't ! To put our biggest aquifier in danger for a foreign oil company is insane and in my book criminal. That aquifier provides safe and clean water to millions of Americans and necessary water for our farmers. What the $$$$ is wrong with these republicans and some dems, don't you have children or care about your family and realize once you destroy our biggest source of clean water you can NEVER go back ! Shame on every sold out republican to the Koch brothers, shame on you ! 35 jobs and yet the republicans continually propagandize the number to thousands...they disgust me ! Stay strong President Obama and Senate Dems...we're watching !
13
It is interesting that the author acknowledges that the increases in supply due to US fracking brought down world oil prices with out leaving the US but won't acknowledge that Canadian oil would have done the same 5 years ago. In fact Egan spent 5 years denying the reality of supply and demand. So why should I buy his misinformed opinions now?
Also, Koch brothers are not involved with Keystone and have no tar sand production. KXL Phase four will produce 9000 high paying construction jobs for 2 years.
Also, Koch brothers are not involved with Keystone and have no tar sand production. KXL Phase four will produce 9000 high paying construction jobs for 2 years.
5
How do you think the oil that made the gasoline for those taco trucks got to the refinery and to Seattle? How do you think the natural gas that heats your Seattle home and fires the electrical generators that run your computer gets to you?
You ought to take a look at Brown's balanced budget. Its based on projected income and the assumption that a public employees' retirement system (CalPers) is self sustaining.
While your digging around you might also find that the fabulous bullet train, after years of cost overruns, is finally turning over the first shovelful of dirt on this very day. The groundbreaking will occur on the only piece of land the project has managed to procure. Eventually, this first leg will connect Bakersfield and Sacramento, two towns that no one would go to unless they lost a bet. Of course, there is hardly any seismic activity in California to disrupt any bullet train to nowhere service.
The price of oil has dropped solely because the Saudis intended to strike an economic blow against Putin, not by any traditional market driven price swings. In the meantime, California has the most expensive gasoline and natural gas retail prices in the nation, the same fuels, delivered by pipeline, the fabulous bullet train will run on.
You ought to take a look at Brown's balanced budget. Its based on projected income and the assumption that a public employees' retirement system (CalPers) is self sustaining.
While your digging around you might also find that the fabulous bullet train, after years of cost overruns, is finally turning over the first shovelful of dirt on this very day. The groundbreaking will occur on the only piece of land the project has managed to procure. Eventually, this first leg will connect Bakersfield and Sacramento, two towns that no one would go to unless they lost a bet. Of course, there is hardly any seismic activity in California to disrupt any bullet train to nowhere service.
The price of oil has dropped solely because the Saudis intended to strike an economic blow against Putin, not by any traditional market driven price swings. In the meantime, California has the most expensive gasoline and natural gas retail prices in the nation, the same fuels, delivered by pipeline, the fabulous bullet train will run on.
2
Infinitely more constructive than turning Keystone XL into a cause celebre for the US environmental movement would have seen its resources applied to advancing a viable political consensus for North American on carbon pricing.
Whatever the incremental emmissions fairlly attributable to oil sands production should be required to pay an appropriate price for those emissions reflecting the accounted costs of those emissions.
This same notion carbon pricing should apply to all combustion in the economy. Whether its oil sands or high speed trains.
Whatever the incremental emmissions fairlly attributable to oil sands production should be required to pay an appropriate price for those emissions reflecting the accounted costs of those emissions.
This same notion carbon pricing should apply to all combustion in the economy. Whether its oil sands or high speed trains.
4
If only Egan's article could reach a wider audience, much wider. Big Money's most damaging effect is caused by recreating in this country a propaganda machine as effective as the one Koch Senior saw in the USSR. Citizens are fearful and divided and where is the fact-based public dialog they need to make voting decisions? The ads and spin and scapegoating and fear-mongering on the public airwaves are endless and there's no fairness doctrine to keep stations from specializing exclusively in a single point of view. Citizens have been turned against government - but government is the only Big Player citizens can participate in. The looters are in charge and voters are against class warfare, which they see as punishing the rich for their success. Voters are blind to the class warfare that caused the huge money transfer from taxpayers to the top 1%. We can talk to ourselves here at the NYT but that's not good enough.
9
Currently, that same oil is being transported from Canada to the Gulf by rail. Those rail lines will cut back on jobs when they lose the contract from TransCanada as moving the oil by pipeline would be cheeper. Fracking the oil from tar sands is very expensive. In 20 years, when this process proves unsustainable, what happens to a defunct Keystone pipeline? Who cleans that up? I think Congress is being pig-headed with this idea of Keystone being some sort of energy panacea. I would also question those Congressional supporters who think taking private property is a just cause to help the bottom line of a foreign company and its backers.
13
It is sad to see two men who have done so much for their country demonized by so many ignorant liberals. The Koch brothers are vilified because they do not agree with the liberal fantasy called man-made climate change. The climate change models have been wrong in 114 of 118 predictions and still those on the left believe. Global warming, now called climate change because the globe did not warm, is a religion based on faith alone. I welcome this Congress now made up of men and women who look directly at the evidence and accept truth as it is. The climate change movement was never about the environment: it has always been about concentrating political power into a "global government." Conservatives are smart enough to see through it and liberals will continue in their "Chicken Little" world view propped up by the leftist mainstream media.
8
The Koch brothers are replacing representative democracy in this country with an aristocracy of wealth, exactly what Thomas Jefferson warned Americans against and what Jefferson changed the inheritance laws of Virginia to avoid.
Some may worship the devine right of capital to the extent they will relinquish rule by We The People to the likes of the Koch Brothers; but not most.
Some may worship the devine right of capital to the extent they will relinquish rule by We The People to the likes of the Koch Brothers; but not most.
Thank you for saying the obvious! I had been hoping Pres. Obama might bring in the 'Expainer of Things' (Bill Clinton) to talk about the economic consequences of the pipeline. I live in Sacramento and am so proud of the work Gov. Brown is doing on behalf of us all. He is setting examples at every turn. Now if he would only follow New York by banning fracking...
4
I really wish Governor Brown would run for President.
2
Companies spent over $670 Billion last year searching for and developing new fossil fuel resources (University College London Institute for Sustainable Resources).
When will the 'energy' companies begin to spend even half that amount on renewables? There is nothing good that will come from destroying the Earth and its atmosphere by burning dirty fuel. Fossil fuel executives have children, don't they?
When will the 'energy' companies begin to spend even half that amount on renewables? There is nothing good that will come from destroying the Earth and its atmosphere by burning dirty fuel. Fossil fuel executives have children, don't they?
1
Pres. Obama’s vow to veto the pipeline, like pretty everything else he has done since the election two months ago, stand in stark contrast to the message voters sent to Washington DC. This virtually guarantees a Republican being elected president in 2016. So the question here is : Two years from about right now, will it be possible for Timothy Egan, given his vast journalistic and composition skills, to dig down deep enough into his bottomless hole of sniveling indignation and wacky claims (35 permanent jobs! Indeed!) to capture the moment when the White House becomes, as he will no doubt proclaim: “The Koch Brothers” White House? I can’t wait to find out.
2
"stand in stark contrast to the message voters sent to Washington DC."...And what was the message the voters sent in 2012? At least in 2012 more than 50% of the voters showed up at the polls.
1
The Koch brothers effectively killed Cape Wind in Massachusetts through their organization Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound.
"Cape Wind’s Rodgers invoked industrial William Koch, one of the despised-by-liberals "Koch Brothers," who owns a home in Barnstable’s Osterville section and has funded opposition to Cape Wind: "It would be a travesty if delays caused by an interest group funded by one of the Koch brothers could stop a project that would make MA a leader in offshore wind and create good jobs and help mitigate climate change."
The project would have revitalized New Bedford, MA and would have been the first offshore wind generation project in the USA. The delays have caused National Gird and NStar utilities to sue for breach of contract due to various lawsuits and other countless delaying tactics. NG was slated to purchase 50% of the energy generated. This has been a substantial setback to the project, one they might not recover from. The Koch's greedy, dirty fingers are everywhere. This is just one more nail in the coffin of those who fear for the future world our children and grandchildren will inhabit. On another note Gov Walker, WI is considering signing legislation that will penalize only those who drive hybrid or electric vehicles for not purchasing enough fuel. There is no mention of those who drive few miles or those who drive fuel efficient gas or diesel vehicles. Only "electric" cars will be singled out by this spiteful legislation. Just another "nail".
"Cape Wind’s Rodgers invoked industrial William Koch, one of the despised-by-liberals "Koch Brothers," who owns a home in Barnstable’s Osterville section and has funded opposition to Cape Wind: "It would be a travesty if delays caused by an interest group funded by one of the Koch brothers could stop a project that would make MA a leader in offshore wind and create good jobs and help mitigate climate change."
The project would have revitalized New Bedford, MA and would have been the first offshore wind generation project in the USA. The delays have caused National Gird and NStar utilities to sue for breach of contract due to various lawsuits and other countless delaying tactics. NG was slated to purchase 50% of the energy generated. This has been a substantial setback to the project, one they might not recover from. The Koch's greedy, dirty fingers are everywhere. This is just one more nail in the coffin of those who fear for the future world our children and grandchildren will inhabit. On another note Gov Walker, WI is considering signing legislation that will penalize only those who drive hybrid or electric vehicles for not purchasing enough fuel. There is no mention of those who drive few miles or those who drive fuel efficient gas or diesel vehicles. Only "electric" cars will be singled out by this spiteful legislation. Just another "nail".
5
Senator Inhofe is the perfect example of why states like Oklahoma should not have equal Senatorial representation in Congress.
Rural backward -science rejecting populations should not be allowed to endanger the critical needs of the entire country.
Our future cannot be determined by bronze age thinking!
Rural backward -science rejecting populations should not be allowed to endanger the critical needs of the entire country.
Our future cannot be determined by bronze age thinking!
5
It is all about being paid to be ignorant of particular facts, it's that simple. Whether you actually believe or not, the payment rewards your behavior, right or wrong, the reward is staring you in the face. You may privately believe otherwise, but you would be poorer to admit it It defies logic
Republican scoreboard: Keystone pipeline (Koch brothers) 1 American public 0
4
We don't need more toxic tar sands pipeline polluting our lands and waterways. Ask the folks around the Kalamazoo River in Michigan how that Enbridge pipeline deal worked out for them— ruptured pipeline which caused the largest inland spill in US history, with over one billion dollars in clean-up costs thus far.
Mr. President, veto this horrible legislation. Someone needs to represent the interests of citizens over those of the oil industry and Koch Brothers. Congress surely isn't up to the task.
Mr. President, veto this horrible legislation. Someone needs to represent the interests of citizens over those of the oil industry and Koch Brothers. Congress surely isn't up to the task.
4
Why support clean energy when you can have, together, the Koch brothers' money and dirty energy.
Sure, sure, sure--California's poor credit rating is only surpassed by Illinois and New Jersey. Dare you to put your retirement funds in those three winners.
I have a bridge for sale, too.
I have a bridge for sale, too.
3
We were assured that drilling in the Gulf of Mexico would be safe too. That ecosystem has not yet recovered from the disastrous BP oil spill and may never do so.
The Oglala aquifer, which lies underneath the the Great Plains, America's "breadbasket, may also not recover from another disaster, either man-made or natural.
The words "conservative" and "conservation" come from the root word "conserve" but today's conservatives seem less concerned with saving natural resources on which our economy is based.
The Oglala aquifer, which lies underneath the the Great Plains, America's "breadbasket, may also not recover from another disaster, either man-made or natural.
The words "conservative" and "conservation" come from the root word "conserve" but today's conservatives seem less concerned with saving natural resources on which our economy is based.
2
The gratuitous and erroneous Koch reference aside, the author exhibits the elitism of the salary-man, safe in his "two-checks-a-month" cocoon. The Keystone pipeline project will generate thousands upon thousands of "temporary" jobs. Most trade jobs are by definition temporary. My plumber makes a darn good living, yet his jobs last a couple hours at a time. Same with our electrician. Many, if not most, welders, pipe-fitters, truck-drivers, etc make their living by moving from one job to another. They like it like that. Egan denigrates these folks, and doesn't consider their work style worth considering. How pompous.
4
Good one, Timothy, your direct language is too rare these days in our media.
I disagree about the Saudis hurting from low oil prices, since they are the single biggest force behind them. Oil is very profitable for them at $50 a barrel, and they are pumping at maximum levels in order to bust out new competition from North Dakota and Alberta. They will then slow the spigot, and have free rein to jack up prices again.
I see it less as West Coast- East Coast than the American people versus the gangsters that own and operate our fossil fuel companies- along with Congress.
I disagree about the Saudis hurting from low oil prices, since they are the single biggest force behind them. Oil is very profitable for them at $50 a barrel, and they are pumping at maximum levels in order to bust out new competition from North Dakota and Alberta. They will then slow the spigot, and have free rein to jack up prices again.
I see it less as West Coast- East Coast than the American people versus the gangsters that own and operate our fossil fuel companies- along with Congress.
4
Its the carbon, stupid!
2
The new governor in texas vows to keep texas from becoming california. Would that he fails but with the wingers running everything he will keep texas firmly in the past.
1
California, the third largest oil producing state in the country where to quote Forbes:
"Governor Brown is taking a pragmatic approach: Developing California’s oil fields would not only alleviate the economic suffrage there, he told reporters, but it could also provide fuel to the state’s 30 million licensed vehicles"*
Can't wait to see the blurred photos of high speed rail trains flying by oil derricks.
*[concerning the development of the Monterey Shale Field which has 4 times the recoverable oil as the Bakken Field]
"Governor Brown is taking a pragmatic approach: Developing California’s oil fields would not only alleviate the economic suffrage there, he told reporters, but it could also provide fuel to the state’s 30 million licensed vehicles"*
Can't wait to see the blurred photos of high speed rail trains flying by oil derricks.
*[concerning the development of the Monterey Shale Field which has 4 times the recoverable oil as the Bakken Field]
2
Gas prices are down. Job numbers are up. When I said two months ago that Mitch McConnell, et.al. would take credit for an uptick in the economy, of course, I was kidding. I really didn't think they would really do it. I mean, two days after they take office? Nobody could be that gutsy. Yet here's our new Senate majority leader at the podium doing just that: "..the expectation of a new Republican congress..." Absolutely amazing. The idea that this comment has not broken hypocrisy/irony records for all-time speech is baffling.
9
China has a vested 15 Billion oil sands purchase which if the pipe line fails or is stalled at some point that investment starts to wither on the vine. Should this vine grow China will have economic roots that much deeper and at some point this strategic acquirement could be one of many chess moves it may use to make the US economy heartbeat beat their desires. We have seen how they have tried to manipulate various metals prices creating shortages and price spikes affecting world world production that competes with theirs making for a time profit imposable for those companies to remain competitive while selling those same metals (which they own, control majority of world supply) at a step discount for china based business. A timing over site on their part to freeze out completion or give them the choice to build In China. I speculate the long term plan is to have at their disposal the ability to bring select economies to their knees once they have their hands on needed levers.
The sands oil and proposed pipeline is one of these main levers that has the potential to make tremors in our economy while sucking wealth from our boarders and putting it China's bank account.
The sands oil and proposed pipeline is one of these main levers that has the potential to make tremors in our economy while sucking wealth from our boarders and putting it China's bank account.
2
As Brian Wilson wrote and The Beach Boys sang, "Let's get together and do it again." It's time to gear up the guv moonbean bullet train. Jerry for Prez!
Amazing what a smart professional can do when the democratic party controls everything. Everything. And without gerrymandering.
Amazing what a smart professional can do when the democratic party controls everything. Everything. And without gerrymandering.
6
Remember folks:
Not one barrel of the oil mash that comes through the Keystone Pipeline will ever find its way into a US gas pump. It's ALL designated for export!
In fact, 75% of all the oil presently being drilled in the US is exported.
If we stopped exporting oil, the US would be energy-independent; but the Kochs and people in Big Oil, like Exxon who pays ZERO US taxes, would make less money under that scenario. So our corrupt Congress continues to be the sock puppets for the Kochs and other Oil Barons.
Not one barrel of the oil mash that comes through the Keystone Pipeline will ever find its way into a US gas pump. It's ALL designated for export!
In fact, 75% of all the oil presently being drilled in the US is exported.
If we stopped exporting oil, the US would be energy-independent; but the Kochs and people in Big Oil, like Exxon who pays ZERO US taxes, would make less money under that scenario. So our corrupt Congress continues to be the sock puppets for the Kochs and other Oil Barons.
9
I am going to say now something I could not have EVER imagined I would say: I think I would like to move to California. Doh.
Yes, it is the land of religious whackos and sleaze Hollywood types, but it is also the land now of progressive thinking in terms of environment and energy. California is back, folks, and is about to become the model for not only the US but the whole world. Big Oil has choked on its own vomit. Renewable energy is about to relegate oil to backwoods third-world nations such as China or Russia. You go, Governor Brown! I am starting to pack now.
Yes, it is the land of religious whackos and sleaze Hollywood types, but it is also the land now of progressive thinking in terms of environment and energy. California is back, folks, and is about to become the model for not only the US but the whole world. Big Oil has choked on its own vomit. Renewable energy is about to relegate oil to backwoods third-world nations such as China or Russia. You go, Governor Brown! I am starting to pack now.
4
Taco trucks, community colleges, backyard turbines, photovoltaic roofing shingles. The next American moment is already being constructed from reviving the smallest, most mundane opportunities in the everyday landscape, like seeds in a garden. This is how Detroit and New Orleans, small rural towns and even some forward-thinking suburbs are building resiliency to complement different ideals of sustainability. Bullet trains are just as large as pipelines, but they do more for more people in more ways without the carbon, the old American posturing of progress, and without the imposing environmental hazards. California will set another standard. And if taco trucks were stock, I'd be buying it.
4
"This is how Detroit and New Orleans...are building resiliency to complement different ideals of sustainability."
Of course the reason Detroit and New Orleans (and other cities) are doing so is because decades of liberal politicians and liberal policies left them little choice but to start anew, with 'sustainability' being bankruptcy, judicial oversight of finances and massive state and federal hand-outs. Other than that everything is working out fine.
Of course the reason Detroit and New Orleans (and other cities) are doing so is because decades of liberal politicians and liberal policies left them little choice but to start anew, with 'sustainability' being bankruptcy, judicial oversight of finances and massive state and federal hand-outs. Other than that everything is working out fine.
This is a very good column. Keystone may be a political football but considering all the delay and denial in confronting Climate Change it makes sense to draw the line somewhere. The environmental destruction to gouge out the Canadian sludge, the energy wasted to treat and ship it, the high price to produce it [senseless in this market] combined with the leading climate scientist, Jim Hansen's claim that using that sludge would send us over the cliff from which we could not recover the climate which has sustained us for our whole history - these seem pretty good reasons to reject the pipeline. The President's avowal to veto Keystone is welcome.
7
The 114th Congress is trying to rush through the Keystone XL pipeline to carry oil from the dirty tar sands of Canada to the Gulf Coast. The State Department has estimated that the total number of permanent new jobs created by the pipeline would be 35 — about the same as the handful of new taco trucks in my neighborhood in Seattle. This, at a time when the world is awash in cheap oil.
=============================
How many permanent jobs just Mr. Egan think will be created with the bridges President Obama wants to repair with his infrastructure repair program?
He also misses the point that Keystone XL would be built with Canadian money - a free infrastructure project for the US
=============================
How many permanent jobs just Mr. Egan think will be created with the bridges President Obama wants to repair with his infrastructure repair program?
He also misses the point that Keystone XL would be built with Canadian money - a free infrastructure project for the US
1
Pres. Obama’s vow to veto the pipeline, like pretty everything else he has done since the election two months ago, stand in stark contrast to the message voters sent to Washington DC. This virtually guarantees a Republican being elected president in 2016. So the question here is : Two years from about right now, will it be possible for Timothy Egan, given his vast journalistic and composition skills, to dig down deep enough into his bottomless hole of sniveling indignation and wacky claims (35 permanent jobs! Indeed!) to capture the moment when the White House becomes, as he will no doubt proclaim: “The Koch Brothers” White House? I can’t wait to find out.
4
Thank you for corroborating the claim the those on the right like their own facts over, for example, federally reported facts. Just like another writer who prefers his personal experience over FRB statistics regarding inflation.
I can believe the claim that it will take just 35 folks to maintain and operate the keystone pipeline. It's related tr o pipelines occasionally erupting in flames and incinerating neighborhoods while operators try to figure out how to staunch the flow
I can believe the claim that it will take just 35 folks to maintain and operate the keystone pipeline. It's related tr o pipelines occasionally erupting in flames and incinerating neighborhoods while operators try to figure out how to staunch the flow
1
Part of the significance of the California High Speed Rail project which has not been adequately stressed is that once it is accomplished it will end the belief that such a project is impossible in the US. The republicans who have pitched countless legal and p.r. battles against CHSR are afraid that if it succeeds it will usher in a new era of, horrors, GOVERNMENT INVESTMENT in the national infrastructure of the future. It will stand as the new model for the good that can be done through government involvement in the modernization of our infrastructure to a level competitive with the rest of the developed world. Once the rest of the country sees the advantages California will reap from its forward thinking, other corridors will demand government spending on similar projects in their own region - all bad news to the republican wealthy whose "unwilling largesse" could be the source that will make it all possible.
5
BToan, wish I could agree with you that there will be a push by citizens in other states to follow CA success. But I am doubtful. In Gov. Brown, CA has exceptional, visionary leadership--which is key. He is a throwback to a time when people ran for office to lead us into a bright and wonderful future. Sadly, most politicians who control the levers of government today seek to take us backward under the "government is bad"pretense and a majority people who vote seem to be following right along.
However, I will maintain hope that you are right.
However, I will maintain hope that you are right.
1
Surely Republican Sen. James Imhofe, 81 year old climate denier, incoming Chair of the Environment Committee - who calls climate change "the greatest hoax" - can remember back in the day when his state was a literal desert, a dust bowl in the 1930s. Home of the Joads. Imhofe in charge of Environment is oxymoronic! Climate change is real as dinosaurs were. Fracking to bring up shale oil sands is producing tremblors and earthquakes in the smug states allowing fracking, despite Sarah Palin's inane "Drill, baby, drill" mantra. And the Koch brothers, whose octopus grasp extends from the tar sands of Alberta all the way down to their oil refineries in Louisiana, are donating mountains of moolah to ensure that the Keystone XL Pipeline bill (useless as you know whats on a bull ) is rushed through the 114th Congress like Sherman through Atlanta. And how many jobs will the Pipeline create? The creation of jobs for the proposed pipeline workers surely can't be 35 jobs, as you aver, Tim. A miserably sad drop in the bucket. The Republicans are now bragging about our economy coming back to life, rising like a cake in the oven. All credit to President Barack Obama's leadership. GOP roosters crow the economy is sailing upward because their base is so happy the Republicans are back in the Capitol saddle again. Meanwhile, Jerry Brown, Governor "Moonbeam", has come into his own and is flying high in California, and hey! he might be a good Democrat to throw his hat in the 2016 ring.
3
On balance the Keystone pipeline is probably a losing proposition for the long term. Given all the resources applied to studying, creating right of ways, building a pipeline, maintaining a pipeline balanced against the energy generated by the contents of a pipeline, the better project would be to construct multiple geothermal electrical energy generation sites that can provide environmentally friendly, copious amounts of energy for a very long time. The construction and utility of such sites would also create far more jobs than the pipeline.
1
I don't understand how liberals can be vehemently opposed to the Keystone pipeline, but support "infrastructure" spending (i.e. roads and bridges.) If we are trying to reduce fossil fuel consumption, why should we be spending money on infrastructure that promotes more fossil fuel consumption? Only mass transit will help but all I hear from liberals is support for mass transit in addition to roads, not in replacement of them.
And as for permanent jobs, once a bridge is built or rebuilt, how many jobs does it support? Zero! Makes the Keystone pipeline look pretty good.
And as for permanent jobs, once a bridge is built or rebuilt, how many jobs does it support? Zero! Makes the Keystone pipeline look pretty good.
3
Plus the bonus that it is being built with Canadian money
I watched
C-Span Wednesday night and there was Sen. Hoeven from N. Dakota laying out good, "common sense" arguments for constructing the Keystone Pipeline. He had me sold until he mentioned that "70% of the American people support it" and I thought 91 % of the American people supported criminal background checks for gun buyers. Then I thought about those other "common sense" arguments and I realized those arguments rang hollow also.
C-Span Wednesday night and there was Sen. Hoeven from N. Dakota laying out good, "common sense" arguments for constructing the Keystone Pipeline. He had me sold until he mentioned that "70% of the American people support it" and I thought 91 % of the American people supported criminal background checks for gun buyers. Then I thought about those other "common sense" arguments and I realized those arguments rang hollow also.
4
Gee perhaps there is a much broader idea here. The pipeline has met all the legal requirements for it to be built. The rule of law requires that it be approved but since some don't respect the rule of law as much as it should be then congress should act. I have no benefit from the pipeline personally but I want this bill on the president's desk today and his anticipated veto over turned tomorrow. Same with the foolish 30 hour full time requirement, required birth control, required mental health care, etc. In the areas of health care make them available to those groups that want and are willing to pay for them. I neither want them nor need them and need not to pay for others who do.
4
good column and doesn't even mention the horrible waste and poisoning of soil and clean fresh water used for fracking each new well
1
What a great opening sentence!
Keystone XL is nothing more than a money grab - by the tar sands interests and Gulf refiners who will grab up this oil and immediately ship it overseas. The Keystone XL will bypass the existing Keystone pipeline which supplies crude to Illinois refiners. So the Midwest loses out and Texas and the Alberta producers gain from the additional capacity of the XL.
4
You hit on something there that I had never thought of. I get really annoyed when people talk about deficits as stealing from our children, but what annoys me most is that it is untrue on economic grounds. What I didn't think about was lost opportunity costs when we pinch a penny. When we pass up opportunities to improve the world for future generations we are really stealing from them. The furture really is what we choose to make it and right now we are failing our children.
2
You might also have mentioned that the original Keystone pipeline from Canada to the Gulf was completed in 2014. The XK would be a second pipeline across the U.S. Canadian border.
1
I wish the opponents of the Keystone pipeline would come up with better, more rational arguments against building it.
Otherwise, the majority of Americans who support it will only become greater.
Otherwise, the majority of Americans who support it will only become greater.
2
"I wish the opponents of the Keystone pipeline would come up with better, more rational arguments against building it."...The break even cost for Canadian tar sand oil is $85 a barrel. Is that good enough?
1
China is America's number one trading partner and foreign holder of American debt. Followed by Canada and Mexico. For decades Canada and Mexico have been the source of about 40% of America's imported oil. With fracking threatening their income Canada and Mexico are looking East.
China is hosting in Beijing this week the first ministerial level meeting of the Community of Latin American Caribbean nations which includes all of the nations in the Americas except the U.S.A. and Canada. China is the regions number two trading partner. A Chinese company began construction of a new canal in Nicaragua this week to rival the Panama canal.
China is the number one trading partner of Brazil and Sub-Saharan Africa. China is seeking cleaner fossil fuels like oil and gas along with alternative energy sources. China signed a 30 year deal on very favorable terms to buy oil and gas from Russia. China's filthy air and dirty water from coal waste has become a looming domestic socioeconomic political liability.
Xi Jinping ruling with the Mandate of Heaven and Deng Xiaoping from the Middle Kingdom has a Chinese strategic and tactical military-industrial complex socioeconomic energy plan. About 23% of the human race is Han Chinese with more Han living outside of China than there are Americans- 5%. China has no key allies and is not a member of any major alliance. America is at war and spending more than 3 times what China is on arms.
"Beautiful Country" is Mandarin for America. Really?
China is hosting in Beijing this week the first ministerial level meeting of the Community of Latin American Caribbean nations which includes all of the nations in the Americas except the U.S.A. and Canada. China is the regions number two trading partner. A Chinese company began construction of a new canal in Nicaragua this week to rival the Panama canal.
China is the number one trading partner of Brazil and Sub-Saharan Africa. China is seeking cleaner fossil fuels like oil and gas along with alternative energy sources. China signed a 30 year deal on very favorable terms to buy oil and gas from Russia. China's filthy air and dirty water from coal waste has become a looming domestic socioeconomic political liability.
Xi Jinping ruling with the Mandate of Heaven and Deng Xiaoping from the Middle Kingdom has a Chinese strategic and tactical military-industrial complex socioeconomic energy plan. About 23% of the human race is Han Chinese with more Han living outside of China than there are Americans- 5%. China has no key allies and is not a member of any major alliance. America is at war and spending more than 3 times what China is on arms.
"Beautiful Country" is Mandarin for America. Really?
1
Great op ed. One quibble. I do not think the Saudis are hurting; I think it is they who are keeping the price low to crush other national petro-earnings, possibly upon our request, since we are now a major producer as well. Certainly it makes foreign policy sense in our Russia strategy, and cheap gas is what is putting extra bucks in American pockets for a quick shot to the American economy.
2
Most of the readers here are too young to remember but after the oil embargo of 1973 ended there was a serious interest in domestic oil production and alternative energy here in the U.S. with a lot of effort and money invested to free us from imported oil. OPEC, primarily the Saudis, responded by pumping LOTS of cheap oil - they can make money at $25/barrel - and getting the price down and keeping it down for years to kill off these efforts. And POOF - it worked. Sound familiar?
4
The truth of Egan's points is so obvious, that it clarifies the GOP's modus operandi.
This M.O. is deceit, fear-mongering, craven pandering to certain wealthy,energy-sector interests, greed, corporate funding, and corruption.
No one, not even Republican legislators, are so stupid as to disagree in their own minds and hearts with what Egan writes. So, they must be acting from perniciousness, not ignorance.
This M.O. is deceit, fear-mongering, craven pandering to certain wealthy,energy-sector interests, greed, corporate funding, and corruption.
No one, not even Republican legislators, are so stupid as to disagree in their own minds and hearts with what Egan writes. So, they must be acting from perniciousness, not ignorance.
5
Republicans have moved on from jobs. They will talk exclusively about security and terror until the next election.
1
I take Amtrak up and down the so-called east coast corridor often. The smell of the regional rail cars lingers in my clothes for hours after I arrive at my destination. I can only dream of what a American version of France's slick TGV or, in my wildest imaginings, the Japanese bullet system, would mean for east coast commuters and businesses. Shame on us!
2
And yet, Saint Jerry thinks fracking is OK for California.
2
Cheap oil is the pivot point. So in a way, just as Reagan was "right" about the collapse of the Soviet Union, Sarah Palin was "right" about "Drill baby drill". The point now is not to take sides but to find a way to include opposing factions in a win/win on energy. Right Wing (Conservatives) are right (for short term energy and geo-political reasons) about need to drill immediately - and the Left Wing (Greens) are right about the need to prepare for the energy future.
Too late for Jerry Brown for President?
Too late for Jerry Brown for President?
1
The old Republican mantra was that deficits would 'bankrupt the futures of our grand children'.
They miss the irony when they advocate a course which might dwarf that purported concern, by advocating for those that wish to destroy the planet by putting our extinction as a species on the table as a negotiable item.
They miss the irony when they advocate a course which might dwarf that purported concern, by advocating for those that wish to destroy the planet by putting our extinction as a species on the table as a negotiable item.
2
It's Canada's oil and one way or another they will find a way to get it to market.
It's currently largely transported by rail and Canada could build pipe east or west, pipe to U.S. Midwest refineries or refine where it's at.
Spills could well be less of an issue with a pipe than it currently is with rail tankers.
As for eventual use of this oil overseas, so what? Oil is a commodity used worldwide. The Texas and Louisiana refined products will be used in the U.S. and the rest of the world.
If oil companies want to build it, comply with regulations and pay for it, then let it be.
It's currently largely transported by rail and Canada could build pipe east or west, pipe to U.S. Midwest refineries or refine where it's at.
Spills could well be less of an issue with a pipe than it currently is with rail tankers.
As for eventual use of this oil overseas, so what? Oil is a commodity used worldwide. The Texas and Louisiana refined products will be used in the U.S. and the rest of the world.
If oil companies want to build it, comply with regulations and pay for it, then let it be.
3
If the massive toxic Enbridge tar sands spill of 2010 along Michigan's Kalamazoo River had happened up in Alpena, would you still be pro-pipeline? It was the largest inland spill in our nation's history, over a billion dollars in clean-up costs to date.
5
"At some point, the only way the Keystone XL can be profitably built and operated is with a huge subsidy from taxpayers."
The Koch brothers bought and paid for the politicians who will make this boondoggle possible. The Koch brothers seem to be the Americans most likely to profit from its construction. Accordingly, it logically follows that the Koch brothers should be the only ones to subsidize the construction and operation of Keystone XL.
The Koch brothers bought and paid for the politicians who will make this boondoggle possible. The Koch brothers seem to be the Americans most likely to profit from its construction. Accordingly, it logically follows that the Koch brothers should be the only ones to subsidize the construction and operation of Keystone XL.
Amazing what the Times considers "NYT Picks" - 4th on the list is a pro-Keystone commentary with the tired old line that we need to let Republican forces have the pipeline so we can "focus on other battles," of the same vein as Joe Nocera. Beyond the non-necessity of the pipeline the fact is, there will be leaks and contamination to the essential aquifers of the Great Plains. It will be undoable, and it is inevitable. Only someone who doesn't live in the heartland, or who doesn't have to worry about their water supplies can just dismiss that as a necessary incidental cost of the project.
8
Beyond the non-necessity of the pipeline the fact is, there will be leaks and contamination to the essential aquifers of the Great Plains. It will be undoable, and it is inevitable. Only someone who doesn't live in the heartland, or who doesn't have to worry about their water supplies can just dismiss that as a necessary incidental cost of the project.
=========================
There are tens of thousands of miles of pipelines currently running across the Ogallala Aquifer and have been for decades. One more isn't going to make any difference
=========================
There are tens of thousands of miles of pipelines currently running across the Ogallala Aquifer and have been for decades. One more isn't going to make any difference
Thank you Mr. Egan for an excellent article. One suggestion: don't legitimize the idea that creating jobs should be a criterion for energy policy. If the pipeline could create a thousand jobs, it would still be a bad idea. At the same time, it has been established that alternative energy development is a good job creator. So I'd say, the pipeline would create a few jobs, but investing in alternatives would do far more, for a longer time.
60
"Tax what you burn not what you earn." If that means replacing income taxes with consumption taxes count me in. I'm suspecting, however, it means both.
1
Both these issues are about pointless symbolism.
The XL pipeline will indeed not make any difference to US jobs or to the world oil supply. But it also was won't make any difference in global warming or the Kochs net worth. Obsessing either way merely exhibits ones partisan bona fides. Utterly pointless.
The CA high speed rail is a fantasy. It is being built only where it can be built. From essentially nowhere to nowhere. They don't even know how or where they will be able to extend it into actual populated areas. Believing the hype is the equivalent of thinking you will find your keys under the lamppost. Just because there is more light there.
The XL pipeline will indeed not make any difference to US jobs or to the world oil supply. But it also was won't make any difference in global warming or the Kochs net worth. Obsessing either way merely exhibits ones partisan bona fides. Utterly pointless.
The CA high speed rail is a fantasy. It is being built only where it can be built. From essentially nowhere to nowhere. They don't even know how or where they will be able to extend it into actual populated areas. Believing the hype is the equivalent of thinking you will find your keys under the lamppost. Just because there is more light there.
3
This is a good and strong arguement against infrastructure spending by the government for stimulus purposes. An example is the new Tappen Zee Bridge. $6Billion in spending it creates zero new perminent jobs.
1
Tim, you nailed it except for one thing; the American voter, and the American non-voter, is 100% responsible for this knuckle-dragging Congress. I don't how much lunacy from Republican Party it's going to take for the average American to wake up and smell the coffee, but apparently it's more than a lot of us would have imagined.
5
If am surprised that Tim Egan did not include this week's dispiriting news of the blow received by the 14 year old effort to realized the embattled CapeWind. Yet another Koch brother - William - has backed the opposition under the guise of the "Alliance to Save Cape Cod Bay" (or some such phony title). The two major contracted power giants who were to be the primary consumers finally lost patience with the protracted litigation Koch money funds and pulled out leaving not only this project wonting, but (as the Kochs have intended from the outset) all other major wind power development) in jeopardy.
5
"The Keystone pipeline, though largely symbolic in the global scheme of things, does nothing for the American economy except set up the United States as a pass-through colony for foreign industrialists."
Actually, it does do something for the American economy: it will likely depress it further through taxation for the pipeline, and then for the costs of the inevitable oil leaks that hopefully won't pollute one of the nation's largest aquifers.
When it comes to Keystone, few are talking about the environmental impact except some American Indian leaders, farmers whose fields are in the crosshairs of the pipes, and some bold Democrats. As you point out, Timothy, the US taxpayer nets nothing, meaning that in essence, you and I are paying Congressional payback to the Koch brothers. Call it the Koch-stone pipeline, might be more appropriate.
It's going to be a rough 2 years with Inhofe as chair of environment. I also saw the reports of links between fracking and earthquakes, in, of all places, Ohio. Sooner or later the earth is going to rise up and bite the very politicians who ignored the significant warnings about not taking climate science seriously.
At 80, Inhofe may not be around to experience it, but his grandkids will. What a legacy to leave the next generations of Americans.
Actually, it does do something for the American economy: it will likely depress it further through taxation for the pipeline, and then for the costs of the inevitable oil leaks that hopefully won't pollute one of the nation's largest aquifers.
When it comes to Keystone, few are talking about the environmental impact except some American Indian leaders, farmers whose fields are in the crosshairs of the pipes, and some bold Democrats. As you point out, Timothy, the US taxpayer nets nothing, meaning that in essence, you and I are paying Congressional payback to the Koch brothers. Call it the Koch-stone pipeline, might be more appropriate.
It's going to be a rough 2 years with Inhofe as chair of environment. I also saw the reports of links between fracking and earthquakes, in, of all places, Ohio. Sooner or later the earth is going to rise up and bite the very politicians who ignored the significant warnings about not taking climate science seriously.
At 80, Inhofe may not be around to experience it, but his grandkids will. What a legacy to leave the next generations of Americans.
74
Actually, it does do something for the American economy: it will likely depress it further through taxation for the pipeline, and then for the costs of the inevitable oil leaks that hopefully won't pollute one of the nation's largest aquifers.
===================
What taxation for the pipeline? It would be built with Canadian money and operators of the pipeline would have to pay property tax in the jurisdictions it crosses.
The Ogallala Aquifer has had tens of thousands of miles of pipelines running across it for decades. Somehow it remains unpolluted.
===================
What taxation for the pipeline? It would be built with Canadian money and operators of the pipeline would have to pay property tax in the jurisdictions it crosses.
The Ogallala Aquifer has had tens of thousands of miles of pipelines running across it for decades. Somehow it remains unpolluted.
Yes. Whatever happened to the Republican cries of leaving debt "to our children and grandchildren?" I still remember Dylan's line in Masters of War: "fear to bring children into the world." In today's morally bankrupt climate it resonates more than ever.
What a sick system makes the whole world beholden to a corrupt evil geezer like Inhofe.
2
Republicans long ago banished common sense from the short list of positive governing principles. They have spent countless millions (billions?) that could have been far more profitably spent on providing the citizens of this country something they can live with, like clean water (instead of the treated sewage most of us wash with or wash down); clean air (instead of the outdoor gas chambers we inhabit daily); the list could go on. President Obama, the over-reaching thief of executive privilege, has said he will hold off on his Keystone XL decision until the Supreme Court of Nebraska has issued its legal opinion about the matter. Imagine the usurper-in-chief deferring to the legal apparatus of the sovereign state in which colliding interests have petitioned for redress! Yet the Koch Brothers cartel, the pimp of every industry that would profit by harming our environment just fir profit, had Mitch McConnell and his legionnaires primed for the further rape of an-already ravaged landscape. I sincerely hope Gov. Brown lives to view what's left if California from the window of his high-speed rail when he's 92. I hope I'll not die on a street choked with soot before the end of this year!
1
For all the tutt-tutting at the republicans, Americans are hardly willing to contribute to a solution either. We scream bloody murder when our gas prices go up and continue to buy large SUVs as people carriers.
Our gasoline taxes are a small fraction of our European counterparts, and we spend comparatively nothing on public transportation and infrastructure even where the need is obvious (ARC tunnel anyone?).
Even if we dispense with dirty coal and oil, we will still have growing demand for other fuels including natural gas which also comes from fracking. Leaky harvesting and delivery adds methane to the atmosphere. Methane is 34 times more effective at trapping heat than CO2.
The only time their is a call for more taxes, it's only on the very wealthiest who are taxed at rates comparable to Europe and Canada. Meanwhile the rest of us are paying the lowest rates since post WW II.
It's easy to lambaste the republicans, but most Americans provide the only barest of lip service to the problem and screech when they are asked to add even one red cent to a solution.
Our gasoline taxes are a small fraction of our European counterparts, and we spend comparatively nothing on public transportation and infrastructure even where the need is obvious (ARC tunnel anyone?).
Even if we dispense with dirty coal and oil, we will still have growing demand for other fuels including natural gas which also comes from fracking. Leaky harvesting and delivery adds methane to the atmosphere. Methane is 34 times more effective at trapping heat than CO2.
The only time their is a call for more taxes, it's only on the very wealthiest who are taxed at rates comparable to Europe and Canada. Meanwhile the rest of us are paying the lowest rates since post WW II.
It's easy to lambaste the republicans, but most Americans provide the only barest of lip service to the problem and screech when they are asked to add even one red cent to a solution.
Building a future that gets us off the oil fix will paradoxically require the burning of a lot of oil. If logic prevailed it would seem like an opportune time to make this big move toward renewable energy while the price of oil is low. But in our classic Catch 22 way of living where opportunity costs trump all, we are using oil for mindless consumption to fuel economic growth with no concern with long term ends. So, we end up fueling more oil dependent growth.
Witness the choice of cars and trucks Americans are choosing during this glut of "cheap" oil. In 2014 the average mile per gallon of new vehicles inched up only about 0.1 mpg. We may put this into the negative column this year. This is for new vehicles that will be a drag on our nation's fleet average for the next 20 years requiring more accounting gimmicks to make it appear we are making progress toward new CAFE standards. But Americans will be driving big down the hard road.
Blame the Republicans and the Kochs all you want. The problem is that Americans by large bought into Reagan's morning in America where limits can never be spoken. Americans are gonna live largely just like the Republican and corporatists, and for that matter most Democrats who believe in the myth of progress and growth, want us to. And we'll call it freedom. Freedom to never question what happens when the black river really stops flowing.
Witness the choice of cars and trucks Americans are choosing during this glut of "cheap" oil. In 2014 the average mile per gallon of new vehicles inched up only about 0.1 mpg. We may put this into the negative column this year. This is for new vehicles that will be a drag on our nation's fleet average for the next 20 years requiring more accounting gimmicks to make it appear we are making progress toward new CAFE standards. But Americans will be driving big down the hard road.
Blame the Republicans and the Kochs all you want. The problem is that Americans by large bought into Reagan's morning in America where limits can never be spoken. Americans are gonna live largely just like the Republican and corporatists, and for that matter most Democrats who believe in the myth of progress and growth, want us to. And we'll call it freedom. Freedom to never question what happens when the black river really stops flowing.
3
"Job creation" is the new "national security." All you have to say to beat down reasoned argument is to accuse your opponent of being against job creation.
Since George Soros is the biggest individual Democratic contributor, was the 2012 Congress the George Soros Congress, or would it be the Union Congress since they give far more than any other group?
1
If it was the union congress, it won't be anymore if XL is not built. Steel industry losing thousands of good jobs while Obama plays politics again.
They say you get the government you deserve. The problem is we all have to suffer for those who voted for this Koch Brothers Congress, which will now work feverishly to push through the toxic Keystone Pipeline, rollback EPA regulations, and defund the President's efforts for clean and renewable energy. We have a chance to remove people like James inhofe from power two years from now; in the meantime we all have to join Timothy Egan in shining a light on the damage these people are doing—and the good things people live Gov. Brown are doing. "The challenge is to build for the future, not steal from it." Indeed!
6
Maybe the Keystone proponents are looking ahead. One day soon, water will be the new oil. And where is the water? In those squishy northern states. That big old pipeline could be used to bring water from, say, Montana or Lake Superior, to the a parched Texas, who will have by then used up all their good water for fracking.
2
A timely and apt comparison.
I love this line:
"...nations of the world meet in Paris at year’s discuss how to address the problem that knows no nationality. "
The re-branding continues: 'global warming' becomes 'man-made climate change' which becomes the simpler 'climate change' which now becomes 'the problem that knows no nationality'.
Pure genius!
"...nations of the world meet in Paris at year’s discuss how to address the problem that knows no nationality. "
The re-branding continues: 'global warming' becomes 'man-made climate change' which becomes the simpler 'climate change' which now becomes 'the problem that knows no nationality'.
Pure genius!
2
>
“The Gods, thinking that the front was more honourable and fit to lead than the back, gave us movement for the most part in that direction”.
Plato
In the Timaeus
“The Gods, thinking that the front was more honourable and fit to lead than the back, gave us movement for the most part in that direction”.
Plato
In the Timaeus
1
Putting the filthy process of getting the stuff in Canada, the pipeline itself is apparently CO2 neutral, produces no jobs and makes no difference in petro-prices. The thumb on the scale therefore has to go to the Nebraska farmers who are fighting for the next great commodity -- water.
52
One bullet train isn’t the answer; neither is the XL Pipeline
America’s short attention span, which brought us the current Congress, is kicking in again -- we’ve only had low oil prices for a few months!!! And, everyone is talking now as though low oil prices are going to last forever!!! OPEC has only committed to keeping supply where it is for six months. And, they could decide to cut supply sooner, if it suits them
Why don’t people realize that what’s happening right now is a price war between US & Canadian oil producers (enjoying a boom in the more expensive extraction of oil from shale & sand) and OPEC (who pump it less expensively.) OPEC has more than enough wealth in reserve to bet that, sooner or later, low-enough prices per barrel will drive these new North American producers out of business – and probably, along with them, companies producing solar panels & windmills. And, another OPEC competitor, Russia
Then, OPEC’s going to cut production & raise oil prices, big-time. (They probably can’t, but would love to do it just before the 2016 presidential election, OPEC fares better with Republicans in the White House.)
As long as the oil that goes into our cars & furnaces comes from outside the US (and fracking produces earthquakes), we need to put the money we’re saving now into renewable energy, or we’ll be facing bigger problems than we can possibly imagine
Tragically, imagination & long memories no longer typify the US, and certainly not our Congress
America’s short attention span, which brought us the current Congress, is kicking in again -- we’ve only had low oil prices for a few months!!! And, everyone is talking now as though low oil prices are going to last forever!!! OPEC has only committed to keeping supply where it is for six months. And, they could decide to cut supply sooner, if it suits them
Why don’t people realize that what’s happening right now is a price war between US & Canadian oil producers (enjoying a boom in the more expensive extraction of oil from shale & sand) and OPEC (who pump it less expensively.) OPEC has more than enough wealth in reserve to bet that, sooner or later, low-enough prices per barrel will drive these new North American producers out of business – and probably, along with them, companies producing solar panels & windmills. And, another OPEC competitor, Russia
Then, OPEC’s going to cut production & raise oil prices, big-time. (They probably can’t, but would love to do it just before the 2016 presidential election, OPEC fares better with Republicans in the White House.)
As long as the oil that goes into our cars & furnaces comes from outside the US (and fracking produces earthquakes), we need to put the money we’re saving now into renewable energy, or we’ll be facing bigger problems than we can possibly imagine
Tragically, imagination & long memories no longer typify the US, and certainly not our Congress
54
I sat in lines at gas stations in the 1970s. It's nice for me that gas prices are low now. But I still drive my car--30 mpg since 1997. Next stop for gas prices: over $6 a gallon. SUV sales are now booming. People don't get it. Doesn't the pocketbook matter to the average American? Duh?
The only benefit for the Keystone XL will be for the oil industry, the leaders of which purchased our Congress long ago, as have the pharmaceuticals, the agricultures, and an endless list of others with gobs of money. And "pipeline" is a good name for it, because that is what the endless flow of taxpayer money to special interests really is - a pipeline. Continually flowing. One day in the not-too-distant future, American voters/taxpayers will suddenly realize what is being done to them by our political leaders, and that is when the 300 million privately-owned firearms could come into play. There are ways to change governments without using ballots. Unfortunately. This is a good time to be very old.
28
The fallacy in your post is that you believe all 300 million privately owned firearms will be directed in one direction. Far more likely, the "uprising" will turn upon itself. Individuals have competing interests. If I work in the oil fields and you make your living in transportation, our economic interests will not align and if firearms are used to affect changes, you and I will draw our weapons on each other.
I think we should take a pass on both programs. I'm amazed at the outsized importance that the Keystone XL pipeline takes on in Congress and in the media. There are 2.5 million miles of pipeline in the United States, I don't see how 1,200 more miles of it in Keystone makes that much difference. If it is economical, this oil will travel one way or the other, by rail or pipeline. Pipeline is probably the safer route.
High speed rail between San Francisco and LA? I'd love it! But at a cost of $178 million a mile ($68b divided by 381 miles) I think we should pass. Is this the best use of taxpayer money?
High speed rail between San Francisco and LA? I'd love it! But at a cost of $178 million a mile ($68b divided by 381 miles) I think we should pass. Is this the best use of taxpayer money?
1
What is there to say, Mr. Egan? The Republicans are a total loss, but unfortunately there is no way to use them as a write off. The only value they have now is nuisance value. They are pulling hard in the direction of taking the US into an underdeveloped country, albeit a fairly rich one. But not to worry, they are doing something about that second part too. They are working hard to make sure that only a few people are very very very rich, while the huge majority are just so-so.
1
Isnt this true on any construction/infrastructure project (sometimes referred to as "shovel ready projects"), so using this logic all construction is valueless because the jobs are temporary. Apparently the only "shovel ready" project the Left like are those using tax payor money rather than private capital. We are doomed as long as this logic permeates mainstream thinking
1
When are we going to start calling him Governor Sunbeam?
This country breaks my heart.
3
Here is the problem: The electorate that voted in this new Congress does not operate on fact. It operates on faith. You cannot argue or reason with belief. It is there until something radical or vastly dramatic occurs to disprove it. In economic history, think of the Great Depression; in environmental history think of DDT.
Until American voters are willing to accept the data and statistics that show the ever rising wealth of the rich, and the ever falling income of the middle class and poor,and the harm that causes, and are willing to accept that government can have a positive impact to change the trajectory, they will continue to rely on luck, and prayer, and hard work, as if those are the answer.
I think that it will take another Depression of great magnitude, or a great, direct natural disaster caused by climate change or fossil fuel extraction, to get this country onto the correct political track. I hope too many families do not suffer. It is a shame.
Until American voters are willing to accept the data and statistics that show the ever rising wealth of the rich, and the ever falling income of the middle class and poor,and the harm that causes, and are willing to accept that government can have a positive impact to change the trajectory, they will continue to rely on luck, and prayer, and hard work, as if those are the answer.
I think that it will take another Depression of great magnitude, or a great, direct natural disaster caused by climate change or fossil fuel extraction, to get this country onto the correct political track. I hope too many families do not suffer. It is a shame.
1
I've always been disappointed that there was never a President Jerry Brown. Imagine him for eight years instead of George W. Bush. The thought almost makes me cry.
5
Only a few permanent jobs, hogwash. Think of all the jobs created for cleaning up oil spills along the route of the pipeline.
2
So, when you start the agenda piece with "Koch brothers Congree", you lose all credibility. I guess we just finished the Soros and public union Congress?
The fact that this pipeline is a much greener way to transport oil than with trucks or the current methods, rail cars is never brought to light by the left.
Why is that? Must be agenda driven, must be dictated by the Soros/Public Unions axis? Pray tell. My guess is that it too will never be revealed, just like the back room deal to save GM, which by the way is the ONLY bailout that the U.S. government lost money on. When is the last time you have heard that from the ny times or cbs?
The fact that this pipeline is a much greener way to transport oil than with trucks or the current methods, rail cars is never brought to light by the left.
Why is that? Must be agenda driven, must be dictated by the Soros/Public Unions axis? Pray tell. My guess is that it too will never be revealed, just like the back room deal to save GM, which by the way is the ONLY bailout that the U.S. government lost money on. When is the last time you have heard that from the ny times or cbs?
1
The definition of ungovernable is not being able to pump false propaganda into the veins of the citizens so that your agendas can be met absent the facts.
It is an embarrassment that our country is not yet going forward in the development of high speed rail in ernest, which is proof that a large portion of our population is still living in Podunktown where we continue to make decisions based on paranoia rather than what is right in light of the facts of progress in technology.
It is an embarrassment that our country is not yet going forward in the development of high speed rail in ernest, which is proof that a large portion of our population is still living in Podunktown where we continue to make decisions based on paranoia rather than what is right in light of the facts of progress in technology.
1
Thanks for another great article, Mr. Egan.
3
Took high-speed train from Madrid to Barcelona. Distance exactly same as Union Station Los Angeles to Fourth & King Station San Francisco. (Okay, four kilometers difference.) About 2-1/2 hours. Easy, comfortable, affordable -- loved it.
Bravo, Jerry Brown! I hope you live to see it.
Bravo, Jerry Brown! I hope you live to see it.
9
As a Canadian who has watched this soap opera about Keystone for years, all I have to say is turn if you turn it down. Buy Railway stocks. I think your president has a hate on for the Conservative government of Mr. Harper anyway. The Keystone pipeline could be taking water from Canada to California and he would still veto it because it is a fish killer. And don't lecture us on Green Energy, I live in Ontario where our "liberal" premier has basically killed the economy by saddling us with massively public subsidized green electricity. We pay the most uncompetitive hydro rates on the continent to subsidize wind farms and solar fields. Jobs and industry are leaving the province because of the costs.
2
They say you get the government you deserve. The problem is we all have to suffer for those who voted for this Koch Brothers Congress, which will now work feverishly to push through the toxic Keystone Pipeline, rollback EPA regulations, and defund the President's efforts for clean and renewable energy. We have a chance to remove people like James inhofe from power two years from now; in the meantime we all have to join Timothy Egan in shining a light on the damage these people are doing—and the good things people live Gov. Brown are doing. "The challenge is to build for the future, not steal from it." Indeed!
9
A major impact of the pipeline will be the transport of a huge amount of eventual waste residue to the Gulf Coast, to permanently pollute in the U.S. It makes little sense to transport heavy, toxic sludge from Canada all the way to the Gulf of Mexico to be refined. A smarter and more efficient process would be to put the refining at/near the mine sites and dispose of the residue sludge there, then shipping the refined products by pipeline, with some perhaps by rail, to the points of consumption and/or loading for shipment overseas. Build a product pipeline, not a crude pipeline. And dispose of the waste in the mined out areas of the tar sands fields.
2
Arce,
100 recommends.
I've been asking this since the topic came up, and none of the apologists can answer.
It would also make more sense in terms of distributing heating oil (a likely product) to areas that use it, rather than shipping it North.
Of course I do know the answer-- the owners of those old polluting refineries can wring a few more dollars from their capital. A new, modern, cleaner, facility would shame them if they were capable of feeling shame.
100 recommends.
I've been asking this since the topic came up, and none of the apologists can answer.
It would also make more sense in terms of distributing heating oil (a likely product) to areas that use it, rather than shipping it North.
Of course I do know the answer-- the owners of those old polluting refineries can wring a few more dollars from their capital. A new, modern, cleaner, facility would shame them if they were capable of feeling shame.
So the entire kerfuffle is about 35 or so permanent jobs. Why don't they make as much of a fuss about the hundreds of thousands of us who can't find jobs, who will be unable to retire, who will be poverty stricken if there are no jobs whether those jobs are provided by government funds or by industry? There are many other more important things that need to be addressed in America: our infrastructure, basic scientific research, cybersecurity, education, health care, global climate change. But it's more important to make a stink over something that, in the end, will not provide very many jobs at all. Somewhere a god is laughing.
2
The Keystone Pipeline is analogous to the Bridge to Nowhere at this point. With oil prices dropping for the forseeable future, it is financially a sink hole that will never pay for itself unless the price of oil is rigged to double up to pay for it. I can see it getting half built and abandoned like the Texas coastline oil fields were in the early 80s when OPEC dropped prices. And with the earthquakes now occurring along that route, it's a disaster in the making. This project is entirely at the beck and call of the Koch brothers who are the greatest beneficiaries of 19th and 20th century era energy and have hoodwinked politicians and the public alike to turn away from any innovation that will save our future.
47
M,
Would those be the same "Abandoned Oil Fields" that are now driving the price of oil down through new technology and Free Market Forces?
Have a Happy First Democrat Filibuster day too!
Would those be the same "Abandoned Oil Fields" that are now driving the price of oil down through new technology and Free Market Forces?
Have a Happy First Democrat Filibuster day too!
1
This project is entirely at the beck and call of the Koch brothers who are the greatest beneficiaries of 19th and 20th century era energy and have hoodwinked politicians and the public alike to turn away from any innovation that will save our future.
===================
This has been debunked repeatedly. Koch Industries has no interest in Keystone and has not reserved any capacity on it.
http://nhl.tampabay.com/news/politics/punditfact-no-the-koch-brothers-wo...
===================
This has been debunked repeatedly. Koch Industries has no interest in Keystone and has not reserved any capacity on it.
http://nhl.tampabay.com/news/politics/punditfact-no-the-koch-brothers-wo...
We can't stop the Canadians from producing as much oil as they want to, we can't stop the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway from hauling oil from Canada and North Dakota to Louisiana's refineries, but we can stop the building of the Keystone XL pipeline.
So why do we talk about the handful of jobs the pipelines creates? What difference does it make?
Orwell and Kafka would love it.
So why do we talk about the handful of jobs the pipelines creates? What difference does it make?
Orwell and Kafka would love it.
2
The second largest lease holder of tar sands land in Alberta is ?
The Koch Brothers.
The Koch Brothers.
23
So what? Would you feel better if it were George Soros?
1
Just following the money, ya know?
1
So who votes for the dopes? I am amazed at folks like Inhofe actually get elected. Listening to him is like listening to a drunk try to explain the Theory of Relativity. The Pipe line? Really? If you spend 5 minutes on the details you walk away scratching your...head. The possibility of a disaster versus some rich Canadian and American guys getting richer is ridiculous. If the Canadians voted against a pipeline why are we looking stupid? Well, follow along the logic we have by not having single payer yet Canada does. Gee are they smarter? Yes.
25
TransCanada does not need the Keystone XL they have already got their product to market by other means. The means are more risky and may cause more environmental damage than the pipeline but they were not going to let their investment spoil because of bureaucrats.
Fracking has made the USA the number one producer of oil in the world, corrected our balance of trade account with the world and currently provided a spark for business and consumers. This will not last because the USA will not throw the world into chaos because of declining economies in OPEC. Oil will be back to 72-100 before the end of 2015.
Rail is a boondoggle and will tax people so heavily they will leave California in droves. They are already seeking relief in other states because of the tax and regulatory burdens CA imposes. The Hispanics in CA understand busses because that is an efficient form of transport in latin America. It is readily changed as populations shift and does not require the heavy investment in infrastructure. I don't know who is selling rail to CA but follow the money.
Fracking has made the USA the number one producer of oil in the world, corrected our balance of trade account with the world and currently provided a spark for business and consumers. This will not last because the USA will not throw the world into chaos because of declining economies in OPEC. Oil will be back to 72-100 before the end of 2015.
Rail is a boondoggle and will tax people so heavily they will leave California in droves. They are already seeking relief in other states because of the tax and regulatory burdens CA imposes. The Hispanics in CA understand busses because that is an efficient form of transport in latin America. It is readily changed as populations shift and does not require the heavy investment in infrastructure. I don't know who is selling rail to CA but follow the money.
5
ransCanada does not need the Keystone XL they have already got their product to market by other means. The means are more risky and may cause more environmental damage than the pipeline but they were not going to let their investment spoil because of bureaucrats.
=================
Exactly, it will go by rail if the pipeline isn't built. Of course Warren Buffet will be happy then
=================
Exactly, it will go by rail if the pipeline isn't built. Of course Warren Buffet will be happy then
1
This is really quite hilarious. Egan blasts Republicans as "frozen in time" while he relies on falling oil prices to oppose Keystone. Even Obama this week had to admit the obvious: oil prices will not stay this low for long. Thus, it would appear that Egan is the one with a static view.
8
Price is everything. As long as all the money goes to the Koch brothers, their 35 new jobs, and the Republican Funeral (American Taliban.) Sure the price will go up and irreversible environmental damage will be done. That's what many of us are complaining about. NO keystone, not needed--YES high speed trains, very much needed Why don't they make money the old fashioned way--by earning it, and doing something that's actually good for the country? What a concept!
4
The State Department has estimated that the total number of permanent new jobs created by the pipeline would be 35.
4
"Egan blasts Republicans as "frozen in time" while he relies on falling oil prices to oppose Keystone."
What's hilarious is your conclusion that Egan "relies" on falling oil prices to oppose Keystone. If you read his piece for comprehension, you'd find he has multiple valid arguments against the pipeline. By pointing out that oil prices are falling, he simply exposes the hypocrisy of arguments that keystone is necessary to keep oil prices low.
What's hilarious is your conclusion that Egan "relies" on falling oil prices to oppose Keystone. If you read his piece for comprehension, you'd find he has multiple valid arguments against the pipeline. By pointing out that oil prices are falling, he simply exposes the hypocrisy of arguments that keystone is necessary to keep oil prices low.
2
Who would have guessed that one of our older white male politicians would be leading the fight to exterminate the Old World Order? Downtown Jerry Brown, our iconic Gov. Moonbeam. Mitch McConnell will be leading the ancient reptiles, while Jerry Brown shows the species that can think and speak how it is actually accomplished, now that most of the Congress Critters are openly on the take from Carbon Kings. My money and our future is on Moonbeam.
39
It might not be so easy to hold off the future if it weren't for the fact that cheap energy is largely the reason for our recent economic rebound, as regular Joes got an immense shot in the financial arm by dramatically cheaper prices at the pump ... and the success of Koch disciples at keeping liberals from increasing gas taxes in order to reduce demand and artificially make green alternatives appear ready for prime time when they're so clearly not.
All those regular Joes out there obviously have a lot to thank the Kochs for, as they buy with such abandon their new big-screen TVs and suburban assault vehicles that block our view on highways.
Must say the notion of Gov. Moonbeam summoning the future is entertaining, when his state is losing people and small businesses by the boatload to Texas and Florida. Interesting how the future is so characterized by so MANY people voting with their feet.
And Keystone will be built only if there are jobs and profit to be generated by doing it. You can accuse the Kochs of all the icky things you wish, but being financially dumb is hardly believable. And imagine how many more big-screen TVs and suburban assault vehicles regular Joes will be able to buy with energy that remains cheap due to its abundance.
But, then, hyper-libs have a serious problem with general prosperity unless it's obtained in a way that's politically correct by THEIR lights, don't they? Probably why we've seen so LITTLE prosperity over the past six years.
All those regular Joes out there obviously have a lot to thank the Kochs for, as they buy with such abandon their new big-screen TVs and suburban assault vehicles that block our view on highways.
Must say the notion of Gov. Moonbeam summoning the future is entertaining, when his state is losing people and small businesses by the boatload to Texas and Florida. Interesting how the future is so characterized by so MANY people voting with their feet.
And Keystone will be built only if there are jobs and profit to be generated by doing it. You can accuse the Kochs of all the icky things you wish, but being financially dumb is hardly believable. And imagine how many more big-screen TVs and suburban assault vehicles regular Joes will be able to buy with energy that remains cheap due to its abundance.
But, then, hyper-libs have a serious problem with general prosperity unless it's obtained in a way that's politically correct by THEIR lights, don't they? Probably why we've seen so LITTLE prosperity over the past six years.
5
The Koch brothers want to do for the U.S. the great economic "miracle" they have wrought in Kansas. Kansas State bonds are one grade above "Junk!"
4
My NYC Brother, the Koch brothers interests are protected by the .5% of Americans who volunteer to put on a military uniform to use the $ 640 billion American military arsenal so that they can send our jobs and their money overseas. And the 99% paying taxes from their stagnant falling incomes.
Corrupt crony capitalist corporate plutocrat robber baron welfare kings and queens and their lobbyists who brought and brokered and bribed executive and legislative puppet pawn parasites are not dumb nor patriotic nor risk takers.
This is only free market capitalism according to the fictional Vito and Michael Corleone along with the real Salvatore" Charlie Lucky" Luciano and Vladimir Putin and xi Jingping. Too big to fail or jail. It is strictly their business but not America's that motivates them.
So LITTLE is so much BIGGER than Reagan/Bush/Bush or any other combination of nation states on Planet Earth.
Have you seen the James Fallows piece in the January/February 2015 Atlantic Monthly cover story on the costs and benefits of the American military-industrial complex?
Corrupt crony capitalist corporate plutocrat robber baron welfare kings and queens and their lobbyists who brought and brokered and bribed executive and legislative puppet pawn parasites are not dumb nor patriotic nor risk takers.
This is only free market capitalism according to the fictional Vito and Michael Corleone along with the real Salvatore" Charlie Lucky" Luciano and Vladimir Putin and xi Jingping. Too big to fail or jail. It is strictly their business but not America's that motivates them.
So LITTLE is so much BIGGER than Reagan/Bush/Bush or any other combination of nation states on Planet Earth.
Have you seen the James Fallows piece in the January/February 2015 Atlantic Monthly cover story on the costs and benefits of the American military-industrial complex?
2
"...unless it's obtained in a way that's politically correct by THEIR lights.."
Please don't be disingenuous. We could say unless it benefits a substantial population without injury to said population. If that's ideological then we know what the problem is. Republicans.
Please don't be disingenuous. We could say unless it benefits a substantial population without injury to said population. If that's ideological then we know what the problem is. Republicans.
4
The Republican problem is short term thinking. Anything that would do good for the public at large longer than the next election or heaven forbid, 10 or 20 years in the future, is a foreign concept to them.
12
Your problem is that these sorts of things are government only for research and development, not for investing in. The private sector is responsible for that.
1
It's as if they know they are all going to Hell so it really doesn't matter.
Unless they are talking about Social Security or Medicare, which they want to cut or eliminate altogether because of the programs' "collapse" 20-30 years down the line.
"For intellectual guidance, Republicans can count on 80-year-old Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the incoming chair of the environment committee. Inhofe calls the consensus scientific view on human-caused warming “the greatest hoax.” He plans to use his gavel to hold back regulations aimed at reducing carbon emissions, fighting the obvious at every turn."
I for one would not turn to Senator Inhofe for "intellectual guidance" an oxymoron if I ever saw one, no offense intended.
Every time I think of infrastructure I remember the beautiful clean pothole-free in rural southern France, the fast trains there, the hundreds of wind towers I saw when flying into Germany and think, why can't we have that here?
Thanks for a great column as usual.
I for one would not turn to Senator Inhofe for "intellectual guidance" an oxymoron if I ever saw one, no offense intended.
Every time I think of infrastructure I remember the beautiful clean pothole-free in rural southern France, the fast trains there, the hundreds of wind towers I saw when flying into Germany and think, why can't we have that here?
Thanks for a great column as usual.
25
Actually they are pot-hole free roads.
1
If 'rural southern France' had the same weather as Vermont, the roads might not be pot-hole free.
1
What is scary is the money being spent on new coal fired power plants, deep sea drilling rigs and new refinery upgrades. All this capital spending is predicated on a twenty year payback. So the people investing are convinced that this capital will still be operating at full capacity thirty or more years from now, long after the bank loans and bond issues have been paid off.
If the same level of investment were to go into renewables our problems would be solved in less then twenty years. But that will never happen as big money is to conservative.
Therein lies the problem.
If the same level of investment were to go into renewables our problems would be solved in less then twenty years. But that will never happen as big money is to conservative.
Therein lies the problem.
35
I actually don't think that the Koch brothers' political philosophy has much of anything to do with their personal economic interests, at least not fully consciously. That one serves the other is more or less coincidental. These are dyed-in-the-wool libertarians, much the way Leonard Peikoff is. But libertarianism is mostly garbage; I don't really care how they arrived at it.
As for Jimmy Inhofe, he has said, as Limbaugh has said, that his religious beliefs are incompatible with global warming because "God is still up there." Rather than trying to decipher some alternative meaning, let's take his words at face value. I think this is something that many liberals miss, because I can tell you from personal experience that this is essentially what many southern evangelicals believe. I'm aware that anecdotes don't make a good argument, but fundamentalist religious beliefs appear to be impeding acceptance of global warming.
On Keystone: This is so overblown by environmentalists and rightists both that discussing it rationally is arduous. Besides, it's becoming somewhat irrelevant anyway. And I hope that train thing in California works out. If it doesn't, it's going to look dumb, and Republicans will justifiably denounce it for the next forever.
As for Jimmy Inhofe, he has said, as Limbaugh has said, that his religious beliefs are incompatible with global warming because "God is still up there." Rather than trying to decipher some alternative meaning, let's take his words at face value. I think this is something that many liberals miss, because I can tell you from personal experience that this is essentially what many southern evangelicals believe. I'm aware that anecdotes don't make a good argument, but fundamentalist religious beliefs appear to be impeding acceptance of global warming.
On Keystone: This is so overblown by environmentalists and rightists both that discussing it rationally is arduous. Besides, it's becoming somewhat irrelevant anyway. And I hope that train thing in California works out. If it doesn't, it's going to look dumb, and Republicans will justifiably denounce it for the next forever.
7
Yes, I agree that many evangelicals, including some members of Congress from the South, do agree with Inhofe. Rep. Jeff Miller, who has a lifetime seat in the House representing the western Florida Panhandle, said at a town hall meeting last year that "the climate is changing because of the way God formed the earth." Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech, and an avowed evangelical, says of her climate studies, "I feel like I'm studying what God was thinking when he set up our planet." The best we can hope is that more evangelical Christians find a way to reconcile their faith and the science in a similar way. In the meantime, these fundamentalist Christians will remain partners with the Koch brothers and other fossil fuel interests to oppose action on climate at every turn.
Actually, Christian belief is just a cheap excuse for disregarding climate change. I, too am a Christian and their positions are foolish. It's like saying we can't pollute water, we can't cause smog, we can't disfigure the earth in our lust for wealth. They have chosen to serve mammon and try to hide it by invoking God's presence.
2
Governor Brown, in his state of the state speech, set a goal of 30% of California power from renewable resources. The majority of this will come from solar. There is not much in the way of untapped hydroelectric power.
Our local community college just installed covered parking for the commuter students, all topped with solar panels. In my neighborhood 20-25% of houses now have solar power panels installed, and this is (somewhat cloudy) Northern California. The state offers subsidized loans for solar retrofit, and has an established program to sell home solar power back to the power grid.
Silicon Valley is located on a peninsula. A visiter may get the impression that there is a lot of land to build homes on, but the reality is they would be on known mudslide hillsides, earthquake faults, and landfill that "liquefies" during a quake. The real benefit of high speed rail is not swift trips to LA but gaining rapid access to the easily buildable land just south of San Jose.
This will release a lot of pressure on the Bay area housing market. The last time high sped rail, BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) was built (in the 70's) the Bay economy took off.
The problem with "No new taxes." is that it results in no new anything.
Our local community college just installed covered parking for the commuter students, all topped with solar panels. In my neighborhood 20-25% of houses now have solar power panels installed, and this is (somewhat cloudy) Northern California. The state offers subsidized loans for solar retrofit, and has an established program to sell home solar power back to the power grid.
Silicon Valley is located on a peninsula. A visiter may get the impression that there is a lot of land to build homes on, but the reality is they would be on known mudslide hillsides, earthquake faults, and landfill that "liquefies" during a quake. The real benefit of high speed rail is not swift trips to LA but gaining rapid access to the easily buildable land just south of San Jose.
This will release a lot of pressure on the Bay area housing market. The last time high sped rail, BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) was built (in the 70's) the Bay economy took off.
The problem with "No new taxes." is that it results in no new anything.
32
The irony is that most of the opposition to high speed rail is coming from the eastern half of the state, which will profit from high speed transportation. The valley towns of the central valley will be connected as never before with the most prosperous parts of the state for jobs and much needed economic stability. From where I sit I can see the valley smog, high speed trains would be a breathe of fresh air.
So we now know from the oil and financial markets that what is best called the Kochstone Pipeline is to be produced and marketed only AFTER its use-by date. Sounds like a case for the Consumer Protection Bureau. Democrats: why not use the promised Senate open amendment process to provide that, when or if the Pipeline is ever built, no taxpayer money or federal tax benefits may be used to support its construction or operation. It's an old Western strategy -- head them off at the pass. And the GOP has plenty of models at hand for this type of "budgetary" legal provision from its persistent efforts to keep public monies away from supporting family planning and reproductive choices. Just a simple mark-up would do the job: a fitting end to the Pipeline to Nowhere.
6
Democrats: why not use the promised Senate open amendment process to provide that, when or if the Pipeline is ever built, no taxpayer money or federal tax benefits may be used to support its construction or operation.
===================
It would be built by Transcanada, a Canadian company with Canadian money
===================
It would be built by Transcanada, a Canadian company with Canadian money
Let's add Portland and Seattle to the bullet train!!
23
I would more than gladly pay to ride the bullet train to SF.Just think, no $25.00 for the first bag and $50.00 for each bag after that, old peanuts and raisins in a little bag and a glass of pop, your knees in your face while you sit for an hour,no seat back locks; room to restore the blood flow to your legs and feet,room to actually get up and walk around, windows that are actually good for viewing the scenery.Just think of it!
Absolutely great idea!
That would be so great. America used ot be able to do huge projects like that, really sad that we have lost that ability.
Thanks for this opinion. Keystone XL pipeline must be defeated for all the reasons Egan mentioned including its symbolic role in prolonging our dependency on oil. Fracking likewise must be opposed for its pollution of the environment and threat to water supplies. Governor Brown's vision of a high speed train between SF and LA sounds great and why not build more public transit to free drivers from serving long, painful sentences on congested "freeways?"
12
The high-speed project in California is beyond moronic. Because of politics, its proposed path is dumb and more expensive. It will not be completed in 14 years -- good chance it will never be completed. It was sold to voters on the promise it will pay for itself, and it won't, so if it ever is completed, its supporters will insist on billions of dollars in subsidies. It will have little effect on pollution or traffic. If California voters got another chance to vote on it, it would lose in a landslide.
7
Nonsense. I travel extensively around California, the U.S. and the world for business. I also have in-laws who live in the Central Valley and am required to visit there twice a year, whether I want to or not. Have you ever driven up and down Highway 99, the interior stretch of asphalt that runs through Bakersfield, Visalia, Fresno and Merced (home of my in-laws)? It's excruciating. In the summer, you find yourself tottering along at 45 mph in 109F temperatures jammed precariously between a fleet of double-load, open-topped semi-trucks brimming with fresh harvests of tomatoes, peaches and other agricultural bounty. In the winter, the Tule fog is so thick that you often have to stick your head out the window just to make sure you're still on the road and not tearing through some farmer's field. It's not possible to drive 400 miles each way from San Diego (my home) to Merced without thinking, "You know what would come in really handy right now? A bullet train." "Oh," you might say, "why don't you just fly?" Simple. The costs are exorbitant, and take more time and hassle than driving -- you know the drill: airport parking, shuttles, security, changing planes, baggage claim, rental cars, etc. (and still the closest you can get to Merced by commercial air is 80 miles south in Fresno or 100 miles north in Sacramento). Sorry, but the naysayers are dead wrong about the bullet train. California will once again show the U.S. how to dramatically boost productivity and development.
There are too many NIMBYs between LA and San Francisco for it to be built
One of Timothy Egan's very best !
However, when he refers to our " knuckle-dragging Congress ", he gives them way way too much credit - on energy regulation they more resemble Plankton from the Sponge Bob series than they do a mammal with reasoning capabilities.
However, when he refers to our " knuckle-dragging Congress ", he gives them way way too much credit - on energy regulation they more resemble Plankton from the Sponge Bob series than they do a mammal with reasoning capabilities.
37
and yet Plankton has a heart buried in their somewhere!
Steve - Plankton also perfectly embodies Congress's display of character and temperament :)
2
Timothy Egan, you said it all and you said it right. This piece is remarkable for clarity, completeness, and accuracy.
It is a sad commentary on our situation that political assertions will govern us while various climate tipping points approach nearer or are passed. Will nothing bring the world's populations to realize that this is a delayed action effect and we are building danger into all our futures?
Nature doesn't care about your politics and political boundaries do nothing to change the global nature of our planet. The hot air of politics is not enough to increase the overall energy in the system the way accumulation of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in our atmosphere (global warming) is doing.
So if you disagree, find the nearest globe (or acquire one) and note that it is a unified affair, and we can work with each other for good, or work against each other for a brief moment of sociopathic wealth. (If you are a Christian believer, read those gospels for yourself, or if you practice another faith, note the central tenets of caring a compassion fundamental to the core of all the world's great religions. It feels better to care for each other than to hate, as Gandhi, Jesus, Buddha, Mandela, Tutu, and a good few others have shown. If you are an unbeliever, you likely already figured this out for yourself, since I have observed that in general atheists are highly ethical.)
We need to get wise, and fast. Actions have consequences.
It is a sad commentary on our situation that political assertions will govern us while various climate tipping points approach nearer or are passed. Will nothing bring the world's populations to realize that this is a delayed action effect and we are building danger into all our futures?
Nature doesn't care about your politics and political boundaries do nothing to change the global nature of our planet. The hot air of politics is not enough to increase the overall energy in the system the way accumulation of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in our atmosphere (global warming) is doing.
So if you disagree, find the nearest globe (or acquire one) and note that it is a unified affair, and we can work with each other for good, or work against each other for a brief moment of sociopathic wealth. (If you are a Christian believer, read those gospels for yourself, or if you practice another faith, note the central tenets of caring a compassion fundamental to the core of all the world's great religions. It feels better to care for each other than to hate, as Gandhi, Jesus, Buddha, Mandela, Tutu, and a good few others have shown. If you are an unbeliever, you likely already figured this out for yourself, since I have observed that in general atheists are highly ethical.)
We need to get wise, and fast. Actions have consequences.
26
Great piece, Timothy Egan.
144
Senator Inhofe's opposition to the concept of global warming is based mostly on payola from big energy, but also on his inpretation of the Bible (God's promise to never permit another disaster on the the scale of Noah's supposed flood).
I doubt that Inhofe is a "contenduh" for the Nobel Prize in physics. Putting a religious fundamentalist in charge of a committee involved with science is absurd.
I doubt that Inhofe is a "contenduh" for the Nobel Prize in physics. Putting a religious fundamentalist in charge of a committee involved with science is absurd.
315
You are right and it just proves that most of today's Republicans are brain dead and do not give any thought into their actions. One has to wonder what the good Americans in Oklahoma are thinking when electing a person like Inhofe to the Senate? I guess NOT.
2
And Inhofe is a perfect example of old ideas, literally and figuratively. He alone would be a good reason for mandatory time limits for being on the public dole er-- serving in government.
2
Could be that neither polarity has a lock on a great future for this country. Could be that water, not oil or railroads defines the west coast from here on; that collusion with the super-rich will not put food on more than a few hundred tables. Comes a time in the evolution of things that the shark has been jumped, that a country is playing beyond its league, that the rise has mysteriously rolled into a decline.
What our (adjective of choice) Congress can or may do will not ignite performance in our schools, reverse the abandonment of manufacture, or restore once enviable public health. The future is nothing being born here, and the only people who can't see it are the ones we elect for that very task.
What our (adjective of choice) Congress can or may do will not ignite performance in our schools, reverse the abandonment of manufacture, or restore once enviable public health. The future is nothing being born here, and the only people who can't see it are the ones we elect for that very task.
39
Very well said.
John Muir, "believed in the power of government to save the American landscape and thus America itself." (John Muir and The Ice That Started a Fire, Kim Heacox, 2014). Muir believed in the power of government to help provide for a better America. It is distressing and extremely disconcerting to find today’s Republican Party also believes in the power of government, but only to retain the wealth of the wealthy and blacken the American landscape and sky with carbon. The native American’s name is unknown, but how scary his vision. “We know that the White Man does not understand our way of life. To him, one piece of land is much like the other…The earth is not his brother but his enemy and when he has conquered it, he moves on. He cares nothing for the land, he forgets his father’s grave and his children’s heritage….”
117
Chief Seattle. Read the entire speech - it will take your breath away.
http://www.chiefseattle.com/history/chiefseattle/speech/speech.htm
http://www.chiefseattle.com/history/chiefseattle/speech/speech.htm
1
It is so hard to listen to the stupidity that comes out of the mouths of Republican leaders like Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on the Senate floor and Speaker John Boehner on the House floor. In their attempts to please their supporters like Charles and David Koch, McConnell and Boehner sound as though they failed all their science, economic, and sociology classes. In the 21st century we need leaders who value facts, truth, and people more than they value personal power.
203
I find it appalling that McConnell can continue to support construction of the Keystone XL pipeline for the "good American jobs" it will create. And he can say this with a straight face! And too many Americans--judging by the midterm elections, far too many--believe him.
5
Every mention of a Senator Inhofe chairing the Environmental Committee reads like a cruel joke. I expect presentations featuring images of snow in wintertime as irrefutable evidence that all is well. Meanwhile, increasing numbers of earthquakes one state south, Texas, in the vicinities of fracking sites, will be regarded as the Earth's celebration of her financial contributions.
83
You are right, NM - except that Oklahoma - none other than Inhofe's home state, has now become the most seismically active state in the nation. The only folks who refuse to acknowledge what scientists have already determined there, in Ohio, and no doubt will determine in Texas as well, are Inhofe and the willfully ignorant who populate his party. It is truly terrifying to contemplate what will happen to this nation after a few years of control by science-denying liars and greedy charlatans.
1
Timely article, depicting the perversity of current polluters (this includes the Koch Brothers, two idiots willfully ignoring the nefarious consequences of their abusive and shortsighted stance, all for a quick buck, and perverting the republican party to do their bidding). The reason given for construction of the polluting XL pipeline is employment? What a waist of time and effort and money, and the G.O.P. knows it. Perhaps they want to advance things to spite, once more, Obama's promised veto. For all intent and purpose, we have now, with Congress hostage to a republican majority, the classic 'fox in chicken's coop' phenomenon. It does not augur any healthy governance, and it may become buyers' remorse real soon.
42
Perhaps the vote on the pipeline is a face saving message to their constituents, with the expected results of the veto.
1
May be...but what a waste of time, on people's dime.
Could I ring in here as perhaps one of the very few commenters on the Times who actually has worked in pipeline construction? Okay, it was just a summer job in high school before I got a new one the next summer in radio, but I come from a pipeline family: dad (lifelong), brother (the same) and nephew, chief inspector on one completed section of...(drum roll, please) Keystone XL.
The decision of the Environmental Defense Fund to fight the pipeline was based not on high principle, but on eager opportunism. They needed a new issue, they needed something people could understand as "evil". Keystone was nominated.
We need to get off oil and on renewables, fast, even while we continue to use oil for decades. During this transition, the Koch brothers, as long as they are alive, we see their massive fortunes impacted negatively (no tears here). BUT, defeating XL will have almost nothing to do with moving that transition forward, nor will it save the environment, nor will it slow global warming. (The tar sands, when the price goes back up, would be developed without us.)
On a certain level, the battle over XL is a silly fight carried out under ridiculous premises, but, in politics and life, what's new? The idea behind is not to actually stop the pipeline, but to build supporters, and angry supporters at that, for the next and the next battle. Working like a spinning top.
XL is a diversion from our real task, but it pumps up the environmental movement it nonetheless.
Doug Terry
The decision of the Environmental Defense Fund to fight the pipeline was based not on high principle, but on eager opportunism. They needed a new issue, they needed something people could understand as "evil". Keystone was nominated.
We need to get off oil and on renewables, fast, even while we continue to use oil for decades. During this transition, the Koch brothers, as long as they are alive, we see their massive fortunes impacted negatively (no tears here). BUT, defeating XL will have almost nothing to do with moving that transition forward, nor will it save the environment, nor will it slow global warming. (The tar sands, when the price goes back up, would be developed without us.)
On a certain level, the battle over XL is a silly fight carried out under ridiculous premises, but, in politics and life, what's new? The idea behind is not to actually stop the pipeline, but to build supporters, and angry supporters at that, for the next and the next battle. Working like a spinning top.
XL is a diversion from our real task, but it pumps up the environmental movement it nonetheless.
Doug Terry
48
Doug, I cannot agree with you, for two reasons. One, those tar sands fields in Canada are very bad news for our biosphere. We need massive, grass-roots struggles to block every proposed or actual transmission of those products to market. Second, no pipeline is perfect. Leaks would be very destructive.
60
If the battle over the xl pipeline is a silly fight, what are the "next and next battles" we should be fighting for? Your whole position is "listen to me because i have experience with oil pipelines" (due to a summer job and having family in the business), to which you say fighting the xl pipeline is folly - and that's it. So what's our real task then? As i am unable to discern the comprehensive energy plan you have in mind. ...
3
I too worked in the oil industry and have watched Keystone unfold with a sense of morbid curiosity. Something yoou did not mention is the tactics the environmental activists have used in Canada. The tides foundation under Tides Canada registered as a charity and then proceeded with a campaign of deception. Financed by American billionaires, the have hired natives and other protesters. After years of abuses, the Canadian government stepped in and put them under closer scrutiny. It saw them scurrying to change their web sites. Some of the billionaires such as the Rockefeekers made their money in oil. It is a dirty game, and this left wing article does not worry me as it is what I expect from the Times, sometimes known as the Obama Apologist
So true & so depressing. Sigh...
3
The perfect storm has happened in California to make this rail plan happen: a Democratic, visionary leader; a Democrat-controlled legislature; and enormous economic success since the Great Recession. Critics bemoan the cost of this plan which could be diverted to better climate-controlling uses, but California is already doing so much more than most other states to control pollution. Further, high-speed rail in California will inspire other such endeavors. All good things roll east from California.
110
Can't roll here fast enough for this reader and concerned citizen of the world.
2
And come to a screeching halt right around AZ and TX
Extracting oil from tar sands is terribly inefficient and dirty. The goo is so thick that natural gas has to be used to heat it up so it can be extracted. I believe the energy loss for extraction is somewhere around 30%. So we waste clean burning gas to extract dirty oil sludge. (I'm not even going to go into the environmental damage done to the land in Canada.) Then, because it is so thick, solvents (benzene?) have to be added to it so it can be pumped through the pipeline. Those solvents are extracted from oil. So we have to use more petroleum just to get it to move. The tar sands are what we should mine *after* we have run out of oil and have no other alternatives.
Of course the whole thing is just a big symbolic political football. The Koch brothers have a lot of money tied up in the tar sands and they want to profit from it. They may not be able to. The cost to produce tar sand oil is around $70 to $80 per barrel. With prices this low, who would buy it? The whole thing is a waste of capital.
We would all be better off if we took that money and built high voltage electrical transmission lines across the nation to move renewable power around as well as conventional. Our infrastructure highway of electrical lines is woefully inadequate to serve the nation's needs. Try to get that through the government shrinkers in Congress.
Of course the whole thing is just a big symbolic political football. The Koch brothers have a lot of money tied up in the tar sands and they want to profit from it. They may not be able to. The cost to produce tar sand oil is around $70 to $80 per barrel. With prices this low, who would buy it? The whole thing is a waste of capital.
We would all be better off if we took that money and built high voltage electrical transmission lines across the nation to move renewable power around as well as conventional. Our infrastructure highway of electrical lines is woefully inadequate to serve the nation's needs. Try to get that through the government shrinkers in Congress.
313
Extracting tar sand oil has a big up front development cost and a lower marginal operating cost. New development is only worthwhile when oil prices are high enough to pay back development costs within a few years and make profits after that.
When oil is at $50 per barrel, it will discourage new development but the operations already running will continue to run. Estimates are that existing operations are profitable at $30 per barrel.
Oil at $50 per barrel or less will discourage much new tar sand development, But the ones that are already operational only need
While I don't anticipate much new tar sand developments, the ones that are already operational will continue to run as long as the marginal cost
When oil is at $50 per barrel, it will discourage new development but the operations already running will continue to run. Estimates are that existing operations are profitable at $30 per barrel.
Oil at $50 per barrel or less will discourage much new tar sand development, But the ones that are already operational only need
While I don't anticipate much new tar sand developments, the ones that are already operational will continue to run as long as the marginal cost
1
Dear Mr. Rozenblit,
I must admit some confusion concerning your comment; in particular "we would all be better off if we took that money and built high voltage transmission lines".
"We" who? And "who's" money? The Koch Brothers money is theirs to spend "legally" on any politician willing to take it (re, ALL of them) and as far as whatever "oil" is fracked, drilled, coerced, shipped, found in people's noses, etc., that "product" will be sold to the highest bidder.
And the quest for "cheap energy" will continue as long as there is oil to be squeezed out somewhere on the planet. Nothing will change until the "last drop" is drilled and, before then, people like the Koch Brothers will either find another planet to live on or start peddling overpriced "Wind Turbines".
In short, the oligarchs have won; settle down and just get used to it 'cuz THAT'S capitalism for 'ya!
I must admit some confusion concerning your comment; in particular "we would all be better off if we took that money and built high voltage transmission lines".
"We" who? And "who's" money? The Koch Brothers money is theirs to spend "legally" on any politician willing to take it (re, ALL of them) and as far as whatever "oil" is fracked, drilled, coerced, shipped, found in people's noses, etc., that "product" will be sold to the highest bidder.
And the quest for "cheap energy" will continue as long as there is oil to be squeezed out somewhere on the planet. Nothing will change until the "last drop" is drilled and, before then, people like the Koch Brothers will either find another planet to live on or start peddling overpriced "Wind Turbines".
In short, the oligarchs have won; settle down and just get used to it 'cuz THAT'S capitalism for 'ya!
Supposedly, it won't be economical to extract oil from the Canadian tar sands unless the cost of crude is above $85 per barrel. Since oil futures are currently in the neighborhood of $50, the tar sands oil will likely stay right where it belongs, in the ground, for at least the near term.
7
Actually no. For existing operations, the considerable cost to develop the field has already been invested (i.e. it is a sunk cost). It makes sense to run the operations as long as each barrel of oil sells for more than its marginal cost, which could be as little as $30 per barrel.
However, with oil around $50 per barrel, the original investors may not get their money back, and it will discourage new investors.
However, with oil around $50 per barrel, the original investors may not get their money back, and it will discourage new investors.
2
Now that we don't really need it, I am all in favor of building it. First, construction will create lots of jobs. Then more jobs to to demolish it. It's the greatest employment program since the $6 billion Shoreham nuclear power plant, which never produced so much as a kilowatt.
3
Mr. Egan, thank you so very much for your excellent commentary. I can not understand that these Republicans are unwilling to spend the money to repair our infrastructure which would create certainly more jobs than the XL Keystone Pipeline ever will. In the immediate area where I live there are two bridges out because they are in desperate need of repairs. This means people have to take the long way around them. We have other bridges that are also desperately in need of repairs. Our highways and streets are in poor shape and we have not even started to mention old gas lines or the sewer system or water lines. Unbelievable, the country suffers but no, these Republicans are beholden to the Koch Brothers, the oligarchs and the fossil fuel industry and never mind that the country deteriorates. With oil prices are so low even Premier Harper is worried about what might happen to the tar sands for it will cost more to extract the oil from the tar sands than the oil is worth. The Republicans must be brain dead or don't know arithmetic. They certainly do not seem to care for this country or its people or even their children, grandchildren or future generations. For them it is all about money, serving the very wealthy and fossil fuel industry. When will the American voters wake up and become more active participants in our political system and go out and vote for the good of this country? What will it take? Do we have to become a third world country?
78
From the Republican viewpoint, government spending on infrastructure is another form of social welfare. A bridge, a water or sewer system, a park are generally available for use by everyone, they are dispersed wealth. The conservative rule of thumb is that any action that disperses wealth to the general public is bad, because it constrains concentration of wealth for the owners of capital.
Brother can you spare a dime? No!!!
Brother can you spare a dime? No!!!
2
Become a third world country?
2
It's difficult to stomach the current incarnation of Jerry Brown being saluted for calling in the future. He's the single biggest enemy of truly clean transportation in the nation. Of course I'm referring to his staunch opposition to bicycles. His record of vetoing simple three-foot passing laws and making up interpretations that have no basis for his opposition leave him in a league entirely separate from every other blue state governor.
1
†ouché Mr. Egan.....well said!
9
The GOP elephant in the room has just been exposed and it's name is Koch Industries. While Governor Brown was busy conducting business aimed at brightening the future for the next seven generations, the oligarchs and their GOP schills in Congress are only looking at the dollars they can pocket by dealing in dirty fossil fuels. What is glaringly clear is that the clean energy ingenuity in development on the West Coast is the future of the globe and the path to American leadership. Now more op-eds like yours, Mr. Egan, will move this country forward. It would be a bright future if Governor Brown and Senator Elizabeth Warren would team up as the 2016 executive team to save our country from it's descent into hellish madness.
70
wareen, sanders, brown anyone other then who it appears we may may get in 2016.......bring on a miracle
The construction of Keystone XL pipeline is certain death for the irreplaceable Canadian boreal forest, and a delayed slow-motion death sentence for life on this planet.
See http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/07/much-worlds-fossil-fu...
Canadian tar sands = death. There is NO doubt.
See http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/07/much-worlds-fossil-fu...
Canadian tar sands = death. There is NO doubt.
30
We need to move away from fossil fuels, as an energy source, and on to unicorns and rainbows. That's about how realistic Egan's views are...
4
Ah, Texas. That explains it.
5
Don't forget the pixie dust!!
1
Enjoy your earthquakes down there.
2
A colleague told me during a lunch-hour conversation today that he thinks that Americans are less able and less willing to talk about, let alone think about, ideas that are outside a narrow spectrum of acceptability. He also said that he believes that spectrum has been narrowing.
I think he's right. Moreover, I think the bounds of permissible discourse assume that fossil fuels are necessary, that mass transit of any kind is unprofitable and inconvenient, and that any effort to reduce energy use on a broad scale is at odds with prosperity.
That is most unfortunate. The tragedy of our cramped debate is that those who should be working in our political system to expand it - Democrats - are far too timid about doing so. Republicans have always been, and probably always will be, defenders of the status quo.
If we don't have a major political party that puts meat on the bones of the "change" it advocates, we will continue to be stuck with outmoded ideas like coal-fired power plants, oil pipelines, gas-guzzling SUVs, and toxin-spewing smokestacks for decades to come.
Get with it, Democrats. Use Gov. Brown and Gov. Inslee, as well as their Oregon colleague, John Kitzhaber as examples of how it's done. A truly prosperous economy depends on your political savvy.
I think he's right. Moreover, I think the bounds of permissible discourse assume that fossil fuels are necessary, that mass transit of any kind is unprofitable and inconvenient, and that any effort to reduce energy use on a broad scale is at odds with prosperity.
That is most unfortunate. The tragedy of our cramped debate is that those who should be working in our political system to expand it - Democrats - are far too timid about doing so. Republicans have always been, and probably always will be, defenders of the status quo.
If we don't have a major political party that puts meat on the bones of the "change" it advocates, we will continue to be stuck with outmoded ideas like coal-fired power plants, oil pipelines, gas-guzzling SUVs, and toxin-spewing smokestacks for decades to come.
Get with it, Democrats. Use Gov. Brown and Gov. Inslee, as well as their Oregon colleague, John Kitzhaber as examples of how it's done. A truly prosperous economy depends on your political savvy.
270
As a lone American living in Sweden I cannot generalize about Americans not wanting to talk about ideas outside a narrow range of acceptability. I can, however, apply your thought to the New York Times, first as concerns Tim Egan's subject for today, then what I will call the domain of Charles Blow.
For the NYT the only renewable energy technologies within the Times framework of acceptability are solar and wind. Read more when my first submission gets into "print" here.
For Charles Blow and all - yes all - who write about race and racism it is absolutely unacceptable to consider ending the USCB neither logical nor scientific but entirely political practice of assigning some people to races and others to ethnicities.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
For the NYT the only renewable energy technologies within the Times framework of acceptability are solar and wind. Read more when my first submission gets into "print" here.
For Charles Blow and all - yes all - who write about race and racism it is absolutely unacceptable to consider ending the USCB neither logical nor scientific but entirely political practice of assigning some people to races and others to ethnicities.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
1
I agree with you that our debate about which forms are energy are renewable is a problem. I think we should think more broadly about that question and also that, despite certain technical obstacles, nuclear power should play a larger role in our electricity profile.
It's not just in energy, either. There is a fine article this month in the Atlantic Monthly about our nation's persistent over-commitment of military forces. That's another area where we simply do not have enough willingness to talk about whether our government's post-World War II view of foreign policy makes much sense.
It's not just in energy, either. There is a fine article this month in the Atlantic Monthly about our nation's persistent over-commitment of military forces. That's another area where we simply do not have enough willingness to talk about whether our government's post-World War II view of foreign policy makes much sense.
2
What Jerry Brown and John Kitzhaber have in common, aside from each entering his fourth term, is that they are problem solvers. The party affiliation, while meaningful in this age of some crazy behavior, is not their first priority. It is the ability for all of us to come together and fix things! Make a positive difference. And neither is afraid to be resolute in their values. Not bought, in other words.
If I may, I'd like to offer an alternative analysis: I like to see the US become energy independent of the rest of the world. My reasons are that when we become energy independent I expect the price of oil to drop steeply due to oversupply, thereby benefiting economies around the world, not just ours. It would also allow us to pull out of the Middle East, kissing off our false friends there and saving thousands of lives we have spent preserving our oil supply. The tens of billions per year we spend in the Middle East could then be repatriated and used to solve some of our social problems, kick start our economy and repair some of the environmental damage we have caused in the past. I would also like to see some of those billions spent on a research program to get us off of our hydrocarbon based economy with in 50 years.
For these reasons I would like to see projects like Keystone approved with rigorous environmental controls. Canada is an ally, we don't have to send troops there and with proper safe guards, both countries could benefit and use it to hasten the end of the hydrocarbon era.
For these reasons I would like to see projects like Keystone approved with rigorous environmental controls. Canada is an ally, we don't have to send troops there and with proper safe guards, both countries could benefit and use it to hasten the end of the hydrocarbon era.
39
You are aware, of course, that Keystone transports oil from another country (Canada) for export to countries outside the US.
The combination of US energy conservation and increased production has us well on the way to independence. This, combined with reduced demand in places like China has already created disruption in countries like Russia and Saudi Arabia that depend on oil exports without the US having to fire a shot.
Except for a few (like the Kochs), there are far better investments than Keystone.
The combination of US energy conservation and increased production has us well on the way to independence. This, combined with reduced demand in places like China has already created disruption in countries like Russia and Saudi Arabia that depend on oil exports without the US having to fire a shot.
Except for a few (like the Kochs), there are far better investments than Keystone.
19
Unfortunately, the oil transported via the pipeline is destined for overseas markets - it won't help our 'energy independence' at all -
8
Keystone XL is an EXPORT pipeline. It is not providing oil for the United States.
The pipeline connects the Canadian Tar Sands to export markets by way of the Gulf Coast refineries and export ports. Those ports and refineries only service international markets.
The pipeline connects the Canadian Tar Sands to export markets by way of the Gulf Coast refineries and export ports. Those ports and refineries only service international markets.
7
I was going to make a wager with you Tim, that your friend the President will enable the pipeline. Since he just intimated that he is against it, it is a safe bet that he is for it. But as you said there is no money in it any more, so I will chicken out.
The Republican Party, at all levels, has become a reactionary protest party. To say Democrats are too liberal is to say the world is too modern. At some point conservatives, even Southerners, will have to admit the reality that the world, including their world, is changing and that, if they want to influence change, they will have to change as well.
Locally, nationally, globally we are all being carried along in a rapid current of change and we need enlightened leadership, not a bunch of rabble-rousers. And we definitely can't simply drop anchor, or as William F. Buckley, Jr. stated, unequivocally, in the first issue of “National Review” (1955) that his conservative mandate was to stand “athwart history, yelling Stop.”
“If the primary mission of the ship’s captain were to preserve his ship, he would never leave port.” St. Thomas Aquinas
Locally, nationally, globally we are all being carried along in a rapid current of change and we need enlightened leadership, not a bunch of rabble-rousers. And we definitely can't simply drop anchor, or as William F. Buckley, Jr. stated, unequivocally, in the first issue of “National Review” (1955) that his conservative mandate was to stand “athwart history, yelling Stop.”
“If the primary mission of the ship’s captain were to preserve his ship, he would never leave port.” St. Thomas Aquinas
35
We use to be a forward looking nation. We went to the moon for goodness sake but now all we worship is money. We push our kids to go to college not to better themselves but to be trained for a good job. If someone wants to do service work they are foolish because they are not making money. If a kid wants to take some time to find themselves we fault them for laziness and tell them they will fall behind. Fall behind who? What? They won't be a CEO someday. New flash most kids won't be the CEO, there are just not that many CEO's. I remember years ago when people use to talk about the rat race, they would be astounded today. We are all just mice in a maze running here and their in the pursuit of money. We no longer build families, make homes or build communities we just build assets. We build golden calves while browbeating two year olds to learn their alphabet so they can get into a prestigious preschool and race to the top. The top of what?
Jerry Brown is a dreamer. He has been one of my heroes since the 60's. One of the last forward lookers. One of the last who believe this country is more than a stack of money and that gambling den, Wall Street. He is pragmatist and an idealist all wrapped up in one person. It is the secret to his success in California. I fear with what we are teaching our children we will have no more Jerry Browns to fix the shambles the Money Saves people are making of our country. No one to lasso the moon, that big pie in the sky, as we once did.
Jerry Brown is a dreamer. He has been one of my heroes since the 60's. One of the last forward lookers. One of the last who believe this country is more than a stack of money and that gambling den, Wall Street. He is pragmatist and an idealist all wrapped up in one person. It is the secret to his success in California. I fear with what we are teaching our children we will have no more Jerry Browns to fix the shambles the Money Saves people are making of our country. No one to lasso the moon, that big pie in the sky, as we once did.
112
You are right that we view schools as job prep. What you did not mention is that public schools were intended to prepare kids to be fully participating citizens in our democracy. What was the last time you heard that being discussed? For severa years we have focused on science, math and literacy not civil, government and history. Nazi Germany and the USSR had plenty of literate citizens who excelled at science and math but were willing to Sri and abet totalitarianism. Educating for democracy needs to be intense and explicit.
1
Governor Moonbeam, a proud product of his age and his time. He is a fine example of principles promulgated and lived. Unlike so many politicians, he has been steadfast. Listen up, people. It is do-able.
31
Keystone is the "shovel ready, infrastructure, job program" that the President has been promising for the last six years. It cost the tax payers nothing and will create an immediate construction job bonanza. The California high speed train will cost tax payers tens of billions of dollars, might create some jobs someday, and will never pay for its self. By the way, high speed train travel at less than half the speed of today's airplanes. Governor Moonbeam's high speed train is the dumbest waste of money since the Concorde.
2
Air travel is an enormous polluter, Bill. We have plenty of time, we don't have plenty of air.
3
Unfortunately the Keystone XL pipeline has become a symbol for much larger issues, and is therefore no longer being considered in its own right. Realistically it will not create many jobs in the U.S., but since it is privately financed, neither will it cost much. The government which should be most concerned with its environmental effects is Canada, where the tar sands and drilling take place. The only real impact on the U.S. is the chance of oil spill, which from all I have read is actually quite small. Therefore the question which should be asked is whether, in our grid-locked Congress, is this the issue on which President Obama should be spending his limited political capital. Personally, I oppose the pipeline, but I would rather see political capital spent on our own environmental issues, not those which are really Canada's to deal with.
4
You might asked the people of Mayflower AR how likely an tar sands pipeline is to rupture, as it happened there March 29, 2013. The gritty filthy oil is especially likely to corrode pipelines.
5
And after you ask the people of Mayflower AR, as sleeve wisely suggests, go talk to the folks near the Kalamazoo River in Michigan, who've been subjected to the massive Enbridge tar sands pipeline spill of 2010.
1
The US needs the toxic Canadian tar sludge as bad as it needs more toxic Canadian refugees like Rafael E. Cruz to Nowhere.
31
I agree with what you have written and wish there were any republicans who could understand that. We don't want that Keystone Pipeline with crude oil they think is such a great idea and the only other thing they have hysteria over is Benghazi that they have been beating to death for ever.
9
Wow, no comments yet for this piece?, well then, I'm glad to be the first one to respond this very good piece. As usual, Egan said it all quite well, showing how we're being held hostage by the fossil-fuel industries, who will try to keep the current system in place until every drop of fossil fuel has been extracted from the ground.
The fact that the Keystone pipeline would transport oil derived from tar-sands in Canada seems to have some kind of metaphorical connection to the tar-sand pits around modern L.A., which trapped and ultimately killed numerous prehistoric mammals.
The fact that the Keystone pipeline would transport oil derived from tar-sands in Canada seems to have some kind of metaphorical connection to the tar-sand pits around modern L.A., which trapped and ultimately killed numerous prehistoric mammals.
7
Thank you Timothy Egan for setting out the issues so clearly and persuasively. The Met Museum, my favorite place in NYC besides home, should be ashamed of themselves, soiled by David Koch's oil money now gushing in their front yard.
16
The cost of the Chinese high speed rail system of nearly 12,000 miles has been a tiny fraction of the proposed CA project on a per mile basis. The US is likely to fall far behind the rest of the world in infrastructure unless we can figure out how to cooperatively reduce the costs of developing critical infrastructure, especially when it dramatically reduces carbon emissions
34
Do away with pensions, and pay fractions of what we do now to workers. That's how the Chinese do it.
5
Slave labor at a dollar or two an hour, if not a day, explains the economics of the issue you raise. I trust we are in agreement that that is not a good thing?
2
Of course it costs less in China! In China they don't have to concern themselves with safety regulations and worker compensation. Seriously, would you feel safe on a high-speed rail line constructed according to Chinese rather than American standards? I wouldn't want to be within a mile of it, let alone riding on it!
3
I remember a time when Jerry Brown, the most compassionate and innovative of America's chief executives, was derided as Governor Moonbeam. I would truly love to see him re-enter presidential politics and give Hillary a run for her money in 2016.
150
I think of him as Governor Sunbeam.
2
Yeah, Governor Moonbeam.....all because he proposed the state of California develop its own space program.
Too bad people didn't take him up on it; we might not be dependent on Russia and China today to launch our satellites.
Too bad people didn't take him up on it; we might not be dependent on Russia and China today to launch our satellites.
5
got my vote if warren or sanders do not through their hats into the ring
1
When Mr Egan comes back down to earth, he might want to take a look at one of our California freeways. Four, five, six lanes, all of them full of cars, almost all of which run on oil. Perhaps he should take a look at San Francisco airport. A few of the planes are going to Los Angeles, but the vast majority of them are going elsewhere. They run on oil too, by the way. Then there are the big ships bringing all of the stuff that we don't make in California into the ports of Oakland and Los Angeles. Those are also oil fueled. Take a look at a construction site for, say high speed rail, and you will see a lot of oil burning construction machinery.
We are going to need oil for a long time to come. And the best way to transport oil is by pipeline. It is both safer and cheaper than railroads. The Keystone XL line will move oil both from the oil fields of North Dakota and from the Canadian tar sands. It will help American and Canadian oilmen to compete against the Arabs. Opposition to Keystone XL is one of the dumbest environmental causes to come along in years.
Governor Brown has done a good job, but much of the improvement in state finances is tied to the rise in the stock market. California is home to a lot of rich people, and the state tax system benefits enormously when their portfolios rise.
The high speed rail project is unlikely to ever be completed as planned. While it is possible to build track in the Republican leaning Central Valley, coastal California is hostile to it.
We are going to need oil for a long time to come. And the best way to transport oil is by pipeline. It is both safer and cheaper than railroads. The Keystone XL line will move oil both from the oil fields of North Dakota and from the Canadian tar sands. It will help American and Canadian oilmen to compete against the Arabs. Opposition to Keystone XL is one of the dumbest environmental causes to come along in years.
Governor Brown has done a good job, but much of the improvement in state finances is tied to the rise in the stock market. California is home to a lot of rich people, and the state tax system benefits enormously when their portfolios rise.
The high speed rail project is unlikely to ever be completed as planned. While it is possible to build track in the Republican leaning Central Valley, coastal California is hostile to it.
3
The point is that Gov. Brown is attempting to make California's citizens less dependent upon fossil fuels. It's certainly going to take a long while to wean your state and our country off of petroleum, coal, etc. (longer still if people like the Kochs have their way) but isn't it about time we start?
234
@stu Republican Governor Schwarzenegger did far more to reduce fossil fuel consumption than Jerry Brown has done. His AB32 global warming law has lead to lots of new wind and solar and steep rises in electricity prices to pay for it.
Oil is still vital for transportation, although someday lithium batteries may become cheap enough to challenge it. That day is probably several decades in the future. It will take $10 / gallon gas to drive any real serious change, so don't hold your breath.
Oil is still vital for transportation, although someday lithium batteries may become cheap enough to challenge it. That day is probably several decades in the future. It will take $10 / gallon gas to drive any real serious change, so don't hold your breath.
1
Schrodinger, thanks for saving me the time it would have taken me to express the same sentiments.
One addition: Egan states that the Koch brothers helped purchase the new Congress, he fails to mention that Tom Steyer certainly spent a lot of money trying to keep his Democrat friends in power. It looks like American voters were more impressed with Koch's arguments.
One addition: Egan states that the Koch brothers helped purchase the new Congress, he fails to mention that Tom Steyer certainly spent a lot of money trying to keep his Democrat friends in power. It looks like American voters were more impressed with Koch's arguments.
3
Why have we been led to the slaughter?
Dirty air, dirty oil, dirty water,
Voted in a crew
Although we all knew,
We were not doing what we oughter.
The Kochs and their SCOTUS ally,
Show what profits exemplify,
No precedents, rules,
When voters are fools,
In two years, our chance will come nigh!
Dirty air, dirty oil, dirty water,
Voted in a crew
Although we all knew,
We were not doing what we oughter.
The Kochs and their SCOTUS ally,
Show what profits exemplify,
No precedents, rules,
When voters are fools,
In two years, our chance will come nigh!
166
Koch-a-doodle-do!
Sleepers awake.
Sleepers awake.
11
We are grateful for Governor Brown,
Who has led our state’s quick turn-around.
Arnold couldn’t do it,
But Jerry saw to it,
Brown for POTUS? It has a nice sound...
Who has led our state’s quick turn-around.
Arnold couldn’t do it,
But Jerry saw to it,
Brown for POTUS? It has a nice sound...
4