The battle continues over the future of TransCanada’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, with the Tar Sands Blockade continuing and a large forthcoming President’s Dayย anti-Keystone XL rallyย set to take place in Washington, DC.
In a nutshell: Keystone XL, if approved by the U.S. State Department, will carry viscous and dirty tar sands crude – also known as diluted bitumen or โdilbitโ – from Alberta, Canada down to Port Arthur, TX. From Port Arthur, the tar sands crude will be exported to the global market.ย
Muddying the waters on the decision is the fact thatย The Calgary Herald recently revealed that prospective Secretary of State, John Kerry, has financial investments in two tar sands corporations:ย Suncor and Cenovus. Kerry has $750,000 invested in Suncor and anotherย $31,000 invested inย Cenovus.ย
Which of course all begs the question: Is this another episode of State Department Oil Services all overย again?
North America’s Shale Gas Industry’s Keystone XL
North of the border, TransCanada is proposing another export pipeline for the shale gasย industry.
Dubbed theย Prince Rupert Gas Transmission project, the $5.1 billion project will carry gas obtained via the controversial fracking processย from theย Montney Shale basinย westward to the coast of British Columbia. From there, the gas will be exported in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Asia starting inย 2018.
โGas producers in British Columbiaโs Montney Shale, far from North American population centers, are seeking Asian markets for the heating and power-plant fuel,โ theย Houston Chronicle‘s โFuel Flexโ explained.ย
US Debate Over Shale Gas Exports Alsoย Continues
Meanwhile, south of the border, debate continues over the future of U.S. gasย markets.
On Jan. 24, the comment period closes for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) study on LNG exports.
That study, contracted out to the oil, gas and coalย industry-friendly NERA Economic Consultingย concluded that exports are a net benefit for the U.S. economically. Theย Sierra Club has filed a Freedom of Information Actย to discern how the Obama DOE went about choosing NERA as theย contractor.ย ย
โDeciding to export the U.S. gas supply is a major public decision,โ Deb Nardone, director of the Sierra Clubโs Beyond Natural Gas Campaign said in a press release. โWe deserve a full and fair conversation about it. Thatโs why we deserve to know how and why DOE picked this anti-environmental, pro-corporate consultant for this crucialย report.โ
On top of its looming decision on the Keystone XL, it’s likely that the Obama Administration will make a final decision on whether or not to greenlight shale gas exports sometime in 2013.ย ย
Though it’s still the dead of winter, the policy agenda is about to heat up in the energy and environment policy arenas inside the Beltway in the comingย weeks.ย
Photo Credit: ShutterStock |ย Garyย Whitton
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