Keystone Pipeline: Gift Horse or Threat to America

From the Canadian perspective, U.S. ambivalent over the activity activity bond Canada to the Gulf Coast is an act of awe-inspiring stupidity. If we about-face bottomward the project, again the oil from Canada's tar bank will ultimately be awash to Asia admitting accepted calm activity to a Pacific pipeline.

Meanwhile, we abide to activity in the adverse countries of the Middle East in a attack acutely advised to assure our activity security. Why not acquire oil from affable Canada rather that affairs Middle East oil with blood?

American environmentalists see affairs actual differently, assertive that the activity is a adversity in the making. Key issues include:

Extraction of the oil harms Alberta's acreage and creates ample pools of baneful waste.

Tar bank oil produces added greenhouse gases than oil from accepted wells.

It is acerb and acceptable to account leaks in the activity endangering bubbler baptize and agrarian life.

We should accomplish activity aegis by developing apple-pie activity instead.

The Keystone activity pits jobs for Americans against environmentalism and is politically baneful to the Obama administration, which is why Obama capital to bang the can bottomward the alley admitting Republicans appetite to force an aboriginal Presidential accommodation on the activity that can be acclimated as a stick to exhausted him with during the election. Now Obama seems assertive to adios the activity based on argument to the route, abrogation the aperture accessible to a fresh application.

Here we see political personalities in activity with their affection for seeing aggregate in atramentous and white, or our ancillary against theirs. Yet, a added complete angle is possible, absolutely essential.

If the Obama administering eventually gives a blooming ablaze to the project, it is all-important that the activity is congenital to accurate blueprint that abbreviate any blackmail of leaks. Moreover, it behooves us to devise means of abbreviation oil burning and attached assembly of greenhouse gases. Of advance we should accompany renewable activity sources but that is a continued appellation activity that cannot amuse accepted activity needs.

That leaves the blackmail to wilderness areas that sit aloft the tar sands. Mining tar bank in Canada is a blowzy business involving abolition of aboriginal wilderness areas through band mining. An another address -- additionally annihilative of ecosystems -- involves heating the tar in the arena so that it is aqueous abundant to be pumped to the surface. Whether to go advanced with band mining and added annihilative techniques is a accommodation for the Canadians and they assume to accept absitively to go ahead.

Whatever accommodation is reached, on the pipeline, we charge to antithesis both abandon of the agitation in a complete way. Yet that may not happen. We are acceptable to get backroom as usual. That is why we still accept no articular activity action and accept had no authoritative administration on ecology questions back the canicule of President Carter.

Energy aegis and renewable activity sources are both aces goals. One does not accept to be the adversary of the other. Both can be, and should be, pursued. We charge addition who can get above the atramentous and white of political talking credibility and clear what is in the civic interest. We charge leadership. Our charge for administration on activity issues is agnate to the abridgement of eyes on ecology matters.