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From this end. It was very interesting meeting.
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Sen. Cornyn hosts roundtable to discussion Keystone pipeline



January 20, 2012 7:47 PM


Kalie Desimone



PORT ARTHUR - Two days after President Barack Obama rejected a plan to build a multi-billion dollar pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast, county leaders, politicians and oil industry executives met in Port Arthur-a city intended to be the end of the line for the project.

U.S. Senator John Cornyn led a roundtable discussion.

The president said there just wasn't enough time to look closely at the project and some of the environmental concerns.

Several Southeast Texas industry leaders and elected officials say although the the Keystone XL pipeline project is on hold, they're confident President Obama's decision is just a bump in the road and not the end of the project.

TransCanada wants to build a pipeline from the Canadian border to the Gulf Coast.

During today's meeting at the Valero Refinery, politicians and oil executives stressed the importance of the pipeline.

They say it would create thousands of jobs and decrease our nation's dependence on foreign oil.

As for those who think the Keystone XL pipeline will cause serious environmental problems, Senator Cornyn says he wouldn't allow a project to damage Texas soil.

He believes environmental concerns aren't the real reason most opponents are against the project.

A representative from TransCanada was also at today's roundtable. He assured industry leaders and politicians his company will once again apply for the pipeline permit.


Read more: http://www.kfdm.com/articles/pipeline-46713-project-cornyn.html#ixzz1k6DioFbe

Also:



As Obama delays controversial Keystone oil pipeline, vast network of pipelines already in place

Published January 21, 2012
FoxNews.com

Association of Oil Pipelines

While the Obama administration says it needs more time to assess the potential risks surrounding the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, a vast underground network of more than 2 million miles of energy pipeline already traverses the United States.

Several energy experts who represent the oil and gas industry say the controversial Keystone XL, a 1,700-mile pipeline that would run from Canada to Texas, poses less of a risk to the environment than the estimated 50,000 miles of crude oil pipelines already crisscrossing the U.S., a network they say is safe and efficient.

The Obama administration on Wednesday blocked a permit for the $7 billion Keystone XL, at least temporarily, claiming a more thorough review is needed to examine problems it may pose to the nation�s air and water quality. The administration also blamed Republicans for including a provision in a recent tax cut bill that compelled a decision within a 60-day time frame.

The pipeline system, proposed by the Canadian firm TransCanada, would transport crude oil from the Athabasca Oil Sands in northeastern Alberta to multiple locations in the U.S., including as far as the Gulf Coast of Texas. The Keystone XL would go through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma, and the so-called �feeder pipelines� would connect it to rich oil fields in North Dakota and Montana.

The U.S. State Department has expressed concerns over the pipeline's environmental impact, particularly in the Nebraska Sandhills, an area of porous hills that includes a high concentration of wetlands and a key aquifer.

Environmental activist groups claim the pipeline system could pollute air and water supplies as well as harm fragile ecosystems. The original route also called for the pipeline to cross the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the world�s largest aquifers that extends into eight states and provides drinking water for two million people.

�It will be environmentally and economically devastating if there were to be a spill,� Kim Huynh, a spokeswoman for Friends of the Earth, told FoxNews.com. �We think that Keystone XL pipeline would be dirty at both ends and certainly dangerous in between.� She described tar sands oil as "the world�s dirtiest oil" that she said �needs to stay in the ground.� Huynh also said the air surrounding oil refinery communities adds �immense amount of air pollution that causes lung disease and other detrimental health impacts.�

But several energy experts say the Keystone XL would be no different from an extensive network of energy pipelines already in place � and some say its state-of-the-art design would make it safer than many of the country�s aging pipelines.

�There�s no shortage of energy pipelines,� Dan Kish, senior vice president for policy at the Institute for Energy Research, told FoxNews.com. �This pipeline would be better than 1.9 million miles of pipeline already in the United States. It�s newer and has the best technology.�

Maps of the U.S. energy pipeline system show a vast abundance of crude oil pipelines crossing through states like Montana to Minnesota to Texas.

Major oil pipelines include a 9,467-mile network operated by Magellan Pipeline Co. LLC; a 7,833-mile system owned by MidAmerican Energy Company; and 7,646 miles of pipeline owned by Plains All-American Pipeline LP. Other top oil pipeline companies include ConocoPhillips with 6,027 miles and Colonial Pipelines with 5,596 miles.

Kish said underground pipelines are the safest way to transport crude oil, though he acknowledged that �whenever you have any kind of human endeavor, you have potential problems and they do occur.�

�We have tens of thousands of pipeline and I don�t think there�s any good evidence that pipelines are a significant impact on ecosystems to the point that they can�t adapt,� said Kenneth Green, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

Kish and Green said the alternative to pipeline systems is to transport the oil by tanker, train or truck � all of which they said pose a considerably higher risk for accident and spillage and cost far more in the long run.

�Do we tell Canada to move the oil to Texas by truck?� Green asked.

Robert Schulz, a professor at the University of Calgary's Haskayne School of Business, said a common �misperception� held by many environmental activists is that oil from Canada is �dirtier� than crude that comes from other parts of the world.

But, Schulz argued, the contaminants in Canadian oil -- � particularly CO 2 � are reasonably similar to those coming from oil sources in Venezuela and the Middle East.

�Eighty-four percent of the environment�s contaminants come from a car tail pipe -- not from producers. So if they [activists] really had a problem, they wouldn�t drive their cars,� added Schulz.

TransCanada has promised to reapply for a presidential permit after finding a route through Nebraska that would circumvent sensitive areas.

Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman, a Republican, and other state lawmakers had expressed concern over Keystone�s original route because of its close proximity to the state�s water supply. But Heineman told Fox News on Thursday that he�s confident an alternative route being worked out with TransCanada will not pose a risk to environmentally sensitive areas and should certainly meet federal approval.

"I fully expect we could get it done, certainly in the early September, August timeframe," Heineman told Fox News. "I would send the letter back to the president of the United States saying we approve it and if he were decisive, he could turn around and approve it shortly thereafter, well before the November election."

rush was saying the builders are thinking of rerouting it through Montana using existing easements,this would take it out of the gov hands,obama couldn't stop it this way.

If that is true, I hope they get after it immediately.


maddog

I'm trying to figure out Obama's political motivation. It's not like he doesn't already have the greenie vote. Could this be some sort of Soros order?

Right, latest word is that they'll consider running it from the Bakken fields in N.D., which promises to yield as much oil as the Mid-East. This avoids the international issue which put Obama in charge. He can give the greenies the jump across the border issue later.

All these refineries have invested in this pipeline by "buying space"...a pre-determined amount of oil per day. Even they can't afford to invest billions of dollars in project that they can't use. Well, I guess they can, but we ain't gonna like it when they have to pay for their loss at the pump.

got the word yesterday to be ready to head to ND in a few weeks.

Just in time for bikini season!

Lt. Powell;
Hopefully this finds you and your family doing well this morning Pat, wherever they are. Please send my regards to your son in particular when you're able.

As you can imagine, this whole pipeline thing is generating a lot of airplay and discussion in our part of Canada, as pretty much everyone has someone connected what we call "the oil patch".

The word we hear is that pipelines will get built and oil will be sold. To whom and how much will depend upon the first ones to the table.

Honestly, the whole premise of not being able to manage a pipeline running across flat land, navigable by pickup is a bit of a joke to us Pat.

The other pipeline is going to run the coast mountains - you know the same ones where we hunt mountain goats!

Are there environmental concerns for that up here? Of course there are, but we have the oil, we have the technology and most importantly we need the jobs and resultant cash flow that the jobs and oil sales bring.

While I know that I may sound like I'm sitting here training as a haberdasher of aluminum foil products, I can only see ulterior motives behind Obama's foot dragging on the Keystone project.

Anyway, that's just how one Canuck views the whole deal and I'm most definitely not an expert on it.

All the best to you and yours in 2012 Pat and do stay safe out there.

Dwayne

"Honestly, the whole premise of not being able to manage a pipeline running across flat land, navigable by pickup is a bit of a joke to us Pat."

Hey, Dwayne, thanks for making this important, notable point.

The "Greenies" like to view "The Patch" and those of us who built and continue building it, as knuckle dragging drop outs, looking for a place to make mistakes, and screw something up. Ironic, in that an awful lot of these same folks would be challenged by a badly bent paper clip, and lack any REAL skills in the Manual Arts, and the Sciences that back those arts.

I came out of The La. Gulf, and worked the Canadian Arctic,...I KNOW what our Energy industries can do, and it's something we do damned well.

Thanks for the good words, Hoser !

Greg

Yes, thank you Dwayne. My best to you and yours as well. It is indeed...a joke. Anybody that is worried about a pipeline carrying CRUDE OIL is out of their mind.

This is the tyranny of the Obama administration. Not to forget yesterday's edict my HHS Sebelius that all abortion services will be MANDATED to all insurance companies COPAY free to all clients.
This tyrannical President has shredded the Constitution and will be breathtaking if he wins another term!

I must add that all the threads written about the problems with each GOP candidate PALE in comparison to what is going on with this dangerous President!

I'd give this administration a taste of its' own medicine and start building the son of a bitch anyway....let them bring in the military and the goons from DOJ to shut down operations.

This administartion doesn't give a damn about the law anyway....why should anyone else?

I'm not much for tin foil hat deals but something has occured to me.

Canada, God bless them has oil to sell. They can/will sell it to somebody in their own interests which is fine.
They can sell to us or China/India.

We borrow beau coup money from China. Just wonder if China has put in the word that if they don't get the Canadian oil the US might find it a bit more difficult to borrow money from them?

I would never accuse Lord Obama King of the Univers of doing under the table deals to advance his communist schemes of course.

One, I don't think Obama necessarily wants Red States to do well economically, unless he can get some political benefit from it.

Two, the Trans-Alaska pipeline was controversial when it was built, yet despite a harsh environment there's been no environmental problems from it.

Three, some of the radicals just think it's their job to fight oil every chance they get

very plausible

crossfire;
I hope this finds you doing fine on this cold and still Saturday morning. Well it's cold and still here anyway...

Since you come from a background of the oil patch, you know that it attracts not only those perceived as - and I like your term by the way "knuckle draggers", but also the best and brightest that our universities and technical colleges are producing.

As I stated, there are few families here who don't either have a member or three in "the patch" or at very least know a few folks who are in the business.

That includes everyone from the welders, riggers and service truck folks to the environmental techs and folks in the labs who have a fair modicum of knowledge about such things.

Now I'd never say that the oil and gas companies have a spotless environmental record or for that matter have always shown to have our best interests at heart.

That said, none of us is even remotely interested in ruining the ecosystem for either the present or future generations.

Personally I loved the quote from the Calgary professor who said if the greenie protesters really wanted to make a difference they should stop driving.

I'd continue that theme and say they shouldn't ride public transit either - or fly, or partake of any man made materials whatsoever, or heat their homes or eat anything grown by a farmer/rancher, or.....well you get where I'm going no doubt!

All the best to you crossfire and to you as well I'll say do stay safe in your border country home.

Dwayne

I do believe this deal will get done. I believe the half breed will even give it the OK if by some chance after he's re-elected, and the new Repub president certainly will. My only question is how do we refine all the extra crude? I know there's some expansions going on, but not nearly enough to refine this amount of crude.

Done deal. Each facility has bought space for only the amount of crude they can handle. For instance, Valero is to get 125,000 barrels a day. Their refining capacity is 350,000 barrels per day.