Murky
Deity
Journalist Ryan Lizza says there's one far-reaching, controversial issue President Obama will soon get to decide all by himself, without having to ask Congress. He alone can approve or reject construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, designed to take heavy crude oil extracted from Alberta, Canada, through America's heartland to refineries on the Gulf Coast.
The oil here isn't conventional oil, Lizza tells Fresh Air's Dave Davies: "It's not really oil at all, it's oil sand — it's basically a mixture of oil, sand, water and some other clay deposits, and to extract that oil from this asphaltlike mixture, it requires a lot of energy."
Many environmentalists believe that blocking the Keystone pipeline is critical to addressing climate change. They worry that extracting, refining, selling and burning this oil will result in so much greenhouse gas in the atmosphere that it will dramatically change the climate to the point of no return.
Meanwhile, proponents say it will make an important contribution to energy independence. Lizza explores the argument that the pipeline will have a major environmental impact and profiles a billionaire former hedge fund owner who has thrown himself in the battle to stop Keystone XL.
http://www.npr.org/2013/10/09/23069...n-do-decide-the-fate-of-the-keystone-pipeline
New Yorker article
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/09/16/130916fa_fact_lizza
You probably can already guess where I stand on this. It's obvious that we should not allow this pipeline to go forward. Further, we should ban the import of the tar sands oil.
What are your thoughts on it?