re: Ken's statement on Keystone XL. The idea that the US can stop or even slow the development of the tar sand deposit by Obama refusing to grant Keystone XL a permit is questionable.
Canadian national policy is to develop the tar sands. Several pipeline projects are in the works that will allow the oil that would have flowed through Keystone XL to cross British Columbia instead so it can be sold from Canada's Pacific ocean ports. (see: Northern Gateway pipeline<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enbridge_Northern_Gateway_Pipelines>. see also: Kinder Morgan pipeline<http://www.chron.com/business/article/Kinder-Morgan-to-expand-Canada-pipeline-3478595.php>.) If it comes to it, and somehow, no pipeline can be built, there is a proposal <http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/diane-francis/canada-oil-valdez-alaska-_b_2148646.html>going forward to move 5 million or more bpd by rail across existing rights of way from Alberta to the port of Valdez, Alaska. Obama is presiding over a US that is expanding its own oil production at a dramatic rate - Bloomberg Businessweek reports* the US expanded its oil production this year * [ 2012 ]* "the most since the first commercial well was drilled in 1859"*, i.e. by 766,000 barrels per day. Pretending that Obama can create some kind of climate legacy by putting up a roadblock to Canadian oil development that the Canadians can unblock while developing the considerable US oil and other fossil fuel resources at breakneck speed is preposterous, and it will appear so to our descendants. The US international negotiating position on limiting carbon dioxide emission to the atmosphere is predicated on ignoring scientific advice that rapid decarbonization of civilization is necessary. Canada is following where the US is leading on this issue. The Canadian position on Kyoto was to sign, because it thought the US was signing, except Canada took on a slightly more ambitious target for CO2 reduction that what the US was prepared to do. When it dawned on Canadians that Kyoto was not going to be approved by the US Senate, they abandoned any effort to live up to the agreement they signed, and eventually Canada became the first country to repudiate their Kyoto signature. The basic fact is that 85% of Canadian trade is with the US - the country can't see implementing significantly different policy on such a major issue than its major trading partner. On Wednesday, January 16, 2013 11:00:32 AM UTC-8, Ken Caldeira wrote: > > > > PS. I encourage you to watch an interview with me yesterday on Current TV > related to the Keystone XL pipeline: > http://current.com/shows/the-young-turks/videos/climate-scientist-if-obama-approves-keystone-xl-his-legacy-will-be-shameful > > _______________ > Ken Caldeira > > Carnegie Institution for Science > Dept of Global Ecology > 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA 94305 USA > +1 650 704 7212 [email protected] <javascript:> > http://dge.stanford.edu/labs/caldeiralab @kencaldeira > > *Caldeira Lab is hiring postdoctoral researchers.* > *http://dge.stanford.edu/labs/caldeiralab/Caldeira_employment.html* > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/geoengineering/-/PIU34cEmt2sJ. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en.
