Keystone XL continued

[Barb135]

Refineries in Houston and along the Texas Gulf Coast can handle heavy crude such as that extracted from Canadian tar sands - the type of oil that would flow through the Keystone XL pipeline.

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said he doesn't believe the Keystone XL is a dead project. He said the Obama administration did not have enough time to review the project, given the Republican-imposed timeline.

"I don't believe this is the end of the story," Conrad told The Associated Press. "My personal view is that it should be constructed. It's clear Canada is going to develop this resource, and I believe it is better for our country to have it go here rather than Asian markets."

Bill McKibben, an environmental activist who led opposition to the pipeline, praised Obama's decision to stand up to what he called a "naked political threat from Big Oil." Jack Gerard, the oil industry's top lobbyist, had said last week that Obama faced "huge political consequences" if he rejected the pipeline.

"It's not only the right thing, it's a very brave thing to do," McKibben said. "That's the Barack Obama I think people thought they were electing back in 2008."

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Associated Press writers Dina Cappiello, Laurie Kellman and Sam Hananel in Washington, Shannon McCaffrey in Warrenville, S.C., Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston and James MacPherson in Bismarck, N.D., contributed to this report.

[brice1967]

I read a story a couple of years back in a tech magazine in the dentist office.  The story was about alternative energy (solar energy primarily) and how to get it to the grid.  

Basically the author was talking about how inefficient the technology was at getting all of the energy to the grid.  By that I mean that we needed a lot more advances in this particular part of the equation.  

I don't know... I mean, we all can do something.  I do however find it funny that a lot of people do not understand where their homes energy comes from.  Some of the biggest proponents for alternative energy in my neck of the woods have houses slightly larger and inefficient than necessary.

[desrt]

The tech is here now. Not in 'our lifetime' not in our children's. The steam generating plant I referenced earlier is simplicity itself. Parabolic mirrors to focus sunlight on piping to produce steam. The US has a huge swath of land across the southwest that could be producing clean energy this way. I don't think there's any way to gain a monopoly on mirrors or steam. Maybe that's  part of the problem.
I have plenty of neighbors here in the Chihuahua Desert who live off the grid. Yes, you adapt. If your electricity is produced by solar panels and stored in batteries, you don't run the waffle iron or your hair dryer first thing in the morning. If you use water catchment, you invest in an one micron filter. Not huge sacrifices - just a different mind set.

[adgal]

It's interesting when you read up on the current alternatives and I'm going to see if I can find some articles to post on the realities.  From what I have read, we aren't ready for them yet as they just cannot produce the power we currently require.  And they may never.  So in addition to alternative energy sources, it would seem that usage is going to have to be addressed.  From what I have read the two go hand in hand.  We all will have to cut back and switch to alternatives.  I do think that will happen eventually.  Our children are being raised differently then we were in regards to energy conservation, and their children will be even further aware.  But again, I don't see it happening overnight - possibly not even in my lifetime, so that is what I keep coming back to.  That oil is going one way or the other right?  And if the best of the options in terms of safety is a pipeline, then I support that over alternatives.  Simplistic thinking I suppose, but we know that shipping by freighter is one of the least safe.

[brice1967]

As with most things these days, I just don't feel as if we are getting the facts.  I think most of this confusion is created because of the players involved voicing their opinions as fact.

At one point, the real sticking point was the route the pipeline was going to take across part of Nebraska... i guess there was a sensitive area/reserve/park whatever that was in the direct route.  The EPA and all environmental activists were voicing their opinions and got the thing squashed.

We do need to find alternative energy sources and I don't think anyone on the globe will argue with that.  Most of the giant oil companies are spending billions on researching these alternative sources to they can monopolize on those as well.  In the mean time, they are also working on safer alternatives (with the EPA and other government and private entities) for extracting oil that we are currently dependent upon.  Somehow, some way... a giant chunk of the population is trying to turn their heads on this dependency.  By doing that, you get what we've got now, IMO.  

[adgal]

Well, I have been doing quite a bit of reading on this topic over the last few days.  Guess where I am at?  Confused!!! lol.  I cannot for the life of me figure out what is true, what isn't, what the true benefits or negatives are.  So, I guess I have to stick to the basics in that the ability to move oil from Canada to the US in the safest way possible (which this seems to be) is better then the way we are currently doing it.  Beyond that...no idea!!

[teko]

I know,now you know why I dont understand it and the more I read the less I feel comfortable about any of it. I just dont have time to delve if ya know what I mean.