they make it too easy sometimes.

What an ass.

"Want to see a "no brainer", check out Arkansas".

...building Keystone XL is a no-brainer!

The original GOP

Building Keystone XL a "no-brainer"

I'm pretty sure I can make money on Keystone, one way or another--and that's all that matters to me.

the oil from up there is now being sent to the coast via rail. And they are building a bigger terminal in Canada to be able to handle all the capacity. That does not take away from the fact of the environmental damage on so many levels. The thing is, if Canada wants that oil, they should build there own refinery there. Not sure where I am going with this because I don't want any more oil to mined or drilled, no matter what. It is just that we don't need any more pipelines which are notoriously not safe and notoriously vulnerable. Of course trains can derail, but the damage can be mitigated by the smaller spill that may happen. I really want to drop the F bomb, but have promised myself not do that anymore, at least in print here on DU. But F the Koch brothers who are behind so much of this. And if the people of Nebraska and Kansas can not see the problems with this, they do not belong in a position of responsibility.

AFAIK, Canada does not want this oil and doesn't need it. China is where the oil is going. This oil is not for American use, it's for the Koch owned refinery in Houston which will only get those contracts, then shipped to China.

This is a Canadian and Chinese venture. We're just watching it run through our countryside as if we didn't exist. The Koches own the equipment and signed the deals.

The GOP has been threatening on this thing since mid-2008, and working on states to get it done outside of federal review. And they have taken over state legislatures with Koch funded ALEC bills that the legislators have signed onto. That's why this is happening, it's local.

We are suffering being torn apart as this are the United States, but not very much United. Because the Federal Government is no longer the biggest player.

America is the world's capitalist paradise, where capitalism is now the undisputed religion and where all government and regulation is the devil to be stamped out of existence.

Global corporations freed by Reagan with total de-regulation of everything, de-funding all agencies as if they are hands of satan, got us in this mess.

Okay,

GOP Talking Point Number One is the thousands of jobs. And there will be lots of jobs until it's built. Then those people will all go home.

After that there will be just a few maintenance jobs, and the oil will be refined by the people already working in refineries.

So I make the same demand of the Republicans I made of Romney and his 12 million jobs claim: if they don't materialize then you create the jobs out of your own pocket.

Plenty of jobs created in the oil spill, pipeline burst envirenmental cleanup industries. Arkansas is booming right now.

and those are really NOT the kinds of jobs we want to create. But you knew that.

My favorite one is when they assume that a new job requires $100,000 in additional spending then say "a billion-dollar tax cut will create 10,000 new jobs." They leave out the part about the $100,000 in additional spending having to all go to the same company. If $100,000 is spent but it's spent in 2500 different stores? Then it's not $100,000 in additional spending but $40 in additional spending.

enough now and think this is too risky for the environment. I drove through Kansas and Nebraska and think both have good land for grazing and also farms. I think we will get more jobs rebuilding the infrastructure in this country. I see a lot of people getting rich from this project and that is their ulterior motive. Doesn't Susan Rice also benefit from this project?

"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives." — John Lennon

The vast majority of refined product, gasoline, will be sent to other countries, so it won't reduce the prices here. No way in hell will the big oil companies do anything to "decrease" prices at the pump in this country, and that's simply a fact of life! They can lie all they want, prices will still be sky high here at home.

It will just make it more affordable in Sweden.

Who won't pass the savings on to us. Put when it explodes we'll pay for the clean-up

I consider every idea to come out of the entire Repuke party for the last forty years a no-brainer.

Tell me, Kool-Aid Brigade. Will the president side with the Repukes on this one, or the real Americans?

The Oil Lobby et al has already paid for it to happen...and the congress minions will obey, both R & D

Planet be damned, there's money to make... Bastards

to suck up to the oil companies and build whatever they want.

They have to have "no brain" to let this happen! Their brains have been replaced with USD.

One problem is TransCanada is trying to do this on the cheap -- using cheap material from China and routing it in too much of a straight line. Even the modified route has severe problems with water pollution when there is a rupture in the pipeline because is runs along major rivers where the river is the source of drinking water for a number of small to medium cities. By keeping the route north and east of the Missouri River they could have followed ridge lines where dams could be quickly constructed to capture the spilled oil before is reaches any major streams but that would have added cost to the project because it would have lengthened the pipline by maybe 300 miles. As it is, we are stuck with this flawed route that creates a major hazzard to a lot of people. A safer route should have been a common sense no-brainer and that is the real shame. Incidently, Terry's district includes one of those medium sized cities that could be severly affected by a pipeline rupture.

Trans Canada cannot be trusted on pipeline safety:

http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/10/17/transcanada-whistleblower-confirms-why-his-company-can-t-be-trusted-pipeline-safety

http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2013/03/18/Vokes-Whistleblower-Award/

Consumers will receive little if any benefit from the pipeline

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/will-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-lower-gasoline-prices/2012/03/01/gIQAtWkXlR_blog.html

The Keystone pipeline is a typical example of business and bought politicians driving a false narrative to get something that makes them money, provides little benefit to the public at large, and transfers risk to the public.

This "We Make Money, Public Gets No Benefit But Bears All the Risks" approach needs to be the mantra we place all of these schemes in the future.

... Externalities boys. Externalities cost the tax-payers plenty. Well, hell, just in the past week we've heard of at least two (2) busted pipelines. One up in Canada, and the other here in the US somewhere (Exon's?)

And we want to import shittiest possible tar sand oil from Canada all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, imperiling our environment from one border to the other? Who thought this up, the Devil Himself?

Last edited Sun Mar 31, 2013, 04:58 PM - Edit history (1)

I have used a oil sand compounds to grind valve seats. I know what this stuff will do to the inside of a metal pipeline, (think sand blasters on steroids). As the pumped liquid abrasive material wears down the interior of the pipeline. Secondly; If you want the Damn oil so much then build a refinery on the US Canadian Border. don't pipe the trash across the country. But really,? It's a bad Idea all around.