Morning Post Jan 18

Tar! Sands!

Looks like the Keystone project is getting a big ‘hell no.’
Via The Hill:

The Obama administration will reject the Keystone XL pipeline Wednesday afternoon, according to a source closely following the issue.

The State Department is expected to make an announcement at 3 p.m. Wednesday. While the administration is expected to reject TransCanada Corp.’s permit application, it will allow the company to re-apply, according to the source.

I’ll put the State Department’s statement on Keystone up as soon as I can get it.

Here’s the Sierra Club’s information page on the tar sands and pipeline projects including the refineries that would be working with the heavy crude from the sands.

Problems with the pipeline include a route through Nebraska that could threaten the area’s fragile Ogallala Aquifer.
Charles Pierce explains:

Make no mistake. You screw with the Ogallala Aquifer and you screw with this nation’s heartbeat. Twenty percent of the irrigated farmland in the United States depends upon it. Pumping the water from it is all that has kept the Dust Bowl from coming back, year after year. Any damage to it fundamentally changes the lives of the people who depend on it, their personal economies, the overall national economy, and what we can grow to feed ourselves.

Another thing to take into consideration is the role China is playing in the Tar Sands region, including the recent purchase by a state conglomerate of a major stake. From Reuters earlier this month:

Lastly, don’t be surprised if one part of the pipeline project does get built. There’s been a push for years to expand pipeline capacity between a key hub in Cushing, Oklahoma and Texas refineries.