Keystone XL Pipeline

The governor of Nebraska’s approval of the Keystone XL pipeline’s route through his state has some opponents conjuring up old arguments and false choices in an attempt to gain traction against a project that could help create hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs, stimulate economic activity and help make America more energy secure. For...[read more]

Hoping for lower prices at the pump? Don’t hold your breath. Here’s why.During presidential election years, pretty much anything can become a political football. And so it‘s not surprising that with gasoline prices well above $3 a gallon, the cost of gasoline has become a topic on the stump. Mitt Romney and his fellow Republicans—as well...[read more]

American leadership in developing horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing used in shale oil and gas plays is spreading around the world making it possible to extract previously uneconomic oil and natural gas resources from shale.  These resources are often called unconventional because the horizontal drilling and fracking are...[read more]

A New York Times editorial argued that the U.S. should consider the climate implications of constructing pipeline, like Keystone XL, to transport bitumen from the oil sands in Alberta. As should Canada. The carbon emissions embedded in bitumen that would be transported by the proposed pipelines across BC would not only dwarf the...[read more]

Photo by Elvert Barnes via Flickr

As the environmental review process for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline commences under the direction of the State Department, Trans Canada has announced it will proceed with another tar sands pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast, a 485-mile long segment that was once part of the original Keystone XL project. The...[read more]

Motivated ReasoningThis week I was reading an article from the Associated Press called Some fracking critics use bad science. The gist of the article is that Gasland director Josh Fox used false information in his new film, The Sky is Pink. Among other things, he claimed that cancer rates were higher in Texas where fracking is taking...[read more]

The latest wave of attempts at trying to garner public favor includes various campaigns and slogans illustrates how important energy issues have become in America. But it is a discussion that remains fueled by stoking emotional reactions, sympathetic appeals, or satirical snarkiness - rather than engaging the difficult task of addressing...[read more]

The two biggest sources of oil in North America produce significantly different types of oil, and the lack of infrastructure to link those sources to proper refineries results in higher costs and less competitiveness on the global oil market.[read more]

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Scroll down a bit in this wrap-up of last weekend’s G8 Summit from The Hill newspaper, and you’ll see that the president and other G8 leaders hinted that they might ask for a draw on the world’s oil reserves to offset disruptions in supply from Iran. Their statement:“There have been increasing disruptions in the supply of oil to the...[read more]

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Despite all the industry hype over jobs and purported energy security benefits from building the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline—benefits a Brooklyn bridge-builder could propose—a new report shows the mammoth Canadian tar sands pipeline will cut the amount of gasoline produced in the U.S. and...[read more]

Just a thought, but how great would it be if one of this fall’s presidential debates focused solely on energy issues?Past presidential debates have discussed the economy and jobs, national security and foreign policy, and of course all of those are important. Yet, when you think about it, energy is the nexus where all come together....[read more]

It’s good to hear that TransCanada has submitted its new application for a presidential permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline. The application comes just weeks after the Nebraska legislature approved a bill to move forward with a new route in that state that avoids the sensitive Sand Hills region.Even better news would be that the...[read more]

TransCanada’s latest Keystone XL tar sands pipeline plan filed with the U.S. State Department has done nothing to quell local Nebraska opposition to the controversial project to pipe tar sands oil all the way to the Gulf for export. Nebraska residents say the massive pipeline plan still jeopardizes the world’s largest fresh...[read more]

One of the most prominent arguments against expanded oil and natural gas drilling and major infrastructure projects like Keystone XL is that the United States should for environmental reasons focus on production of energy from renewables rather than sustain the use of oil and natural gas. But the reality is that local community activists...[read more]

In the Dakotas, members of the proud Lakota Nation rose in protest this week to join a  48-hour hunger strike in opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline—and all tar sands pipelines—they say will destroy precious water resources and ancestral lands in the U.S and in Canada.  On Sunday, dozens of hunger strikers and...[read more]