In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the Tennessee Valley Authority which is still the largest energy entity in America. It will have a rival though when the Keystone pipeline system is completed to bring Canadian oil sands crude from Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast refineries. Not to be outdone by Roosevelt, Obama is putting Americans to work. Canadians will buy back their own oil, refined by Americans.
The Keystone pipeline system started with the conversion of a 36-inch natural gas pipeline to pump crude oil that went part of the way. The final result will be a 2673-kilometre (1661-mile) crude oil behemoth that travels through two Canadian provinces and six American states. For some reason, American environmentalists are having apoplexy. Canadian environmentalists are starting to make noises and Canadians concerned about our economy wonder what we are getting in return.
Canadians have been screwed by the oil companies since Katrina hit New Orleans. We pay such outrageous prices at the pumps for gasoline (self-serve of course) that it can only be called commercial rape. “Price fixing” is too polite a term. And what is the reason for higher prices that Canadian oil companies charge? They tell us that one of the problems is that Canada no longer has the refining capacity for the oil it needs. They have been shutting down and dismantling refineries in this country for years.
And that is why TransCanada Pipelines is heading its pipeline for the terminus in Nederland, Texas with oil sands crude. Now that the price of oil has made the oil sands projects viable, Canada gets the pollution and the United States of America gets the oil. And it can all be done for US$13 billion. Why would President Obama hesitate?
Prime Minister Harper will hardly hesitate to use police and mounties to silence the few foolish Canadian protestors. President Obama has already shown that his police will not hesitate to charge Hollywood stars and anyone else who wants to get in the way,
While even in the worst of the last big depression, the Republicans screamed about Roosevelt being a damned socialist as he beat the Supreme Court and every other barrier that tried to stop the TVA. Obama is having even less trouble with his pipeline aid package for the American oil companies.
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Copyright 2011 © Peter Lowry
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