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Approving Keystone XL could be the biggest mistake of Obama's presidency
The Guardian ^ | January 31, 2014 | Michael Mann

Posted on 02/02/2014 6:33:34 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

A State Department report fails to take into account the full climate impacts of Keystone XL. Who is Obama protecting?

I have made my position on the Keystone XL pipeline quite clear. Approving this hotly debated pipeline would send America down the wrong path. The science tells us now is the time that we should be throwing everything we have into creating a clean 21st century energy economy, not doubling down on the dirty energy that is imperiling our planet.

Now that the State Department has just released a final environmental impact report on Keystone XL, which appears to downplay the threat, and greatly increases the odds that the Obama administration will approve the project, I feel I must weigh in once again.

The simple fact is this: if Keystone XL is built, it will be easier to exploit fossil fuel reserves large enough to drastically destabilize the climate. A direct pipeline to refineries and global markets makes the business of polluting the atmosphere that much cheaper and easier.

The only truly accurate examination of the pipeline would include a full cost accounting its environmental footprint. It needs to take into account how much energy is consumed in refining and transporting the crude from oil sands. It must acknowledge that the pipeline would lower the cost and raise the convenience of extracting and exporting the incredibly carbon-intensive deposits of oil.

There are two main issues at stake in the Keystone XL decision: path dependency and US leadership. Path dependency is the term use to describe the fact that once a policy is put into place, it then constrains future options to those within that policy framework. More simply, the choices we make now determine what choices we get to make in the future....

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Canada; Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: canada; energy; hockeystickmann; keystonexl; michaelmann; oil
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To: editor-surveyor
Exactly.....this map of the current pipelines in the US and Canada should be shown to all those who oppose this particular pipeline


61 posted on 02/02/2014 7:26:43 PM PST by xp38
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To: peeps36

It’s a matter of pride. Some guys would rather have the oil burnt on a oil burning thingie so it is rendered useless to prevent it to help their perceived enemies. The enviro angle is a cover up.


62 posted on 02/02/2014 7:27:43 PM PST by Moose Burger
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Total BS hit piece. We are going to burn the gas and oil no matter if it comes from Canada or the middle east. The oil from Canada will be used no matter if it is here in the USA or in China. So this whole line of thought is a total crock of steaming bovine crap.

The only difference is where it is burned and consumed and how clean that process will be. The reports are in and it has been found that there will be no degradation to our environment if this pipeline is built. It will be built either now with Obama taking credit for it or during the next presidents time in office. It will happen soon. Obama has never missed taking credit for good things and this pipeline is a great thing for more jobs and a better overall economy.

63 posted on 02/02/2014 7:31:45 PM PST by oldenuff2no
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie
Germany:

Where electrical power bills are 300 percent higher for a comparable home vs. the US.
F that...

64 posted on 02/02/2014 7:42:13 PM PST by Eric in the Ozarks ("Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth.")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ...

Author is the demagogue, Michael “Hockeystick” Mann.


65 posted on 02/02/2014 7:42:22 PM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Sophomoric moron. The Canadians are going to market their oil - here or elsewhere and using it here will create jobs and lower energy costs.

While we should be exploring new energy sources, it will take time to develop them. In the meantime, we SHOULD be using NON-MUSLIM fossil fuel. And Mr. Mann should go live in a cave somewhere with no heat or energy to warm his demented body or power the computer he uses to vomit forth such idiocy.


66 posted on 02/02/2014 7:46:46 PM PST by ZULU (Magua is sitting in the Oval Office. Ted Cruz/Phil Robertson in 2016.)
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To: max americana
i don't click on the link... i just read what is posted since there is very little else to be gleaned from the rest of the article but i get your point about a disclaimer
67 posted on 02/02/2014 7:47:00 PM PST by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -vvv- NO Pity for the LAZY - 86-44)
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To: SunkenCiv

The completely and totally discredited Michael “Hockeystick” Mann.

A prestidigitator masquerading as a man of science.

A common con man.


68 posted on 02/02/2014 7:54:33 PM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: Chode

Thanks brah


69 posted on 02/02/2014 7:57:13 PM PST by max americana (fired liberals in our company last election, and I laughed while they cried (true story))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

If Michael Mann says we should not do something, I’m pretty sure that means it is a great idea. But that is just my opinion, I’m not stating “facts” so please don’t sue me.


70 posted on 02/02/2014 8:00:16 PM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

BTW, we are going to exploit the fuels whether we have a pipeline or not. If it is cheaper, that gives us more money to fix the environment.


71 posted on 02/02/2014 8:01:04 PM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: peeps36

This hockey stick maker has as much credibility as his buddy Al Gore. Canada is going to pump this oil out of the ground no matter what America does with the pipeline. This enviro-activist would rather see it shipped overseas to China or shipped on the railways of America. I wonder how much the house of saud contributes to his hockey stick making business?


Nope...Canada must sell 2/3 of all its petroleum and fossil fuels to the USA, in accordance with NAFTA

Not sure why folks bring up this “Canada sells to Communist China” myth...it is about as bad as Mann and his phony Global Warming Hoax nonsense

Canada will probably end up suing the USA in NAFTA Court if Keystone is not built....NAFTA (as horrible a Free Trade treaty that it is...and pushed by another Global Warming whacko Al Gore)...may force the US to build Keystone


72 posted on 02/02/2014 8:31:28 PM PST by SeminoleCounty (A Theory is not a Fact....It is not called the "Fact of Evolution")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

keystone xl hinders agenda 21 planning b/c it keeps more peopl in cars, and keeps them living rural instead of forcing the into cell apartments in a city.


73 posted on 02/02/2014 8:44:07 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: publius911

At least I can rest now knowing that climate science isn’t biased, cough...


74 posted on 02/02/2014 10:19:55 PM PST by dila813
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To: publius911

“I thought he had been discredited...”

I’m sure he’s considered a martyr and a saint at the Guardian.


75 posted on 02/02/2014 10:37:03 PM PST by aquila48
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Any oil we don’t produce ourselves or pipeline in from Canada and Mexico gets shipped in by ocean-going tankers.

Keystone oil will offset oil we would have brought in by sea.

Anyone who opposes Keystone is either dim or, scratch a little and you’ll find OPEC money. I don’t know which is the case with Mann. But thats your choice. Dim or an OPEC flack.

If you actually cared about the environment, you’d want to reduce the amount of oil brought in by ship.


76 posted on 02/02/2014 10:56:04 PM PST by marron
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The author is an idiot. The oil WILL be extracted and will ship on Warren Buffet’s trains. Keystone will eliminate the train shipping. KXL will not happen under a democrat administration.


77 posted on 02/02/2014 11:45:59 PM PST by Organic Panic
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

So, if we don’t get the oil, Canada will leave it in the ground and no one will use it and the world will be saved!


78 posted on 02/03/2014 2:42:38 AM PST by Right Wing Assault
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

Yes, that’s the ticket.


79 posted on 02/03/2014 4:29:38 AM PST by ImJustAnotherOkie (zerogottago)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Only a Marxist rag like The Graun would give credence to anything the East Anglia climate fraudster Michael Mann would spew.
Mann may be a true believer in socialism/communism, and not merely a bought-and-paid-for science research whore.
80 posted on 02/03/2014 4:30:03 PM PST by Amagi (Lenin: "Socialized Medicine is the Keystone to the Arch of the Socialist State.")
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