mwalsh said:
I hope you were being sarcastic there? Because I can't believe you Canadians are drinking the Coolade too. We won't see any more Canadian oil in this country than we already see from existing pipelines reaching into the mid-west. Heck, we may even see less as production which currently ends up there is instead sent through Keystone down to the Gulf for eventual export to the far-east.
The only reason the Canadian Government want's Keystone down here is they don't want it (and the environmental risks thereof) in their own back-yard. And they're even willing to give up on the tax revenues on what flows down here through it in order to get rid!
Of course Canadians consume oil too, just as much as Americans, but the point is Canada still has lots of oil left. I don't think you will see less oil as a result of this pipeline. I believe it is currently illegal to export crude overseas from the US. The only thing they'd be exporting is finished products but the only reason that is happening now is because the US is able to maintain such a huge trade deficit of oil imports. In the not-too-distant future the reserve currency status of the US dollar will end and then America will have to balance its trade. Then you can be sure there will be no diesel exports from USA! In that case the US will want oil from close to home and the way it will get more of it will be through this pipeline.
I'm not saying that this pipeline is in any way a solution, I'm just pointing out that America is far more dependent on oil than almost anyone realizes.
Oh don't think for a minute that the Canadian government doesn't want the other pipeline out west. Harper is an ex-oil man. It's BC that's putting up the resistance.