And by rabid right-wing loons, I mean President Obama’s team at the State Department. I’m linking on purpose from the website SustainableBusiness.com for added comic effect:
Despite the fact that oil produced from Canada’s tar sands could doom the planet to catastrophic climate change, the US State Department on Friday said a pipeline carrying the oil to refineries in Texas poses little environmental risk.
The State Department’s review of the proposed $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline addresses the risk of oil spills from the pipeline, but largely ignores the issue of increased greenhouse gas emissions. In doing so, it sets the stage for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to give approval to the pipeline.
A former senior US State Department official who recently left the agency said Sunday that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will likely approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.
David Goldwyn, who left his State Department post as head of international energy affairs earlier this year, said on Platts Energy Week television program that with a positive environmental review and “national interest determination,” Clinton would approve the pipeline.
And Robert Samuelson, liberal writer for the Washington Post, piles on:
Say Yes to Oil Sands
When it comes to energy, America is lucky to be next to Canada, whose proven oil reserves are estimated by Oil and Gas Journal at 175 billion barrels. This ranks just behind Saudi Arabia (260 billion) and Venezuela (211 billion) and ahead of Iran (137 billion) and Iraq (115 billion). True, about 97 percent of Canada’s reserves consist of Alberta’s controversial oil sands, but new technologies and high oil prices have made them economically viable. Expanded production can provide the U.S. market with a growing source of secure oil for decades.
We would be crazy to turn our back on this. In a global oil market repeatedly threatened by wars, revolutions, and natural and man-made disasters — and where government-owned oil companies control development of about three-quarters of known reserves — having dependable suppliers is no mean feat. We already import about half of our oil, and Canada is our largest supplier, with about 25 percent of imports. But its conventional fields are declining. Only oil sands can fill the gap.
The rest here.