Analysts: Keystone will RAISE my gasoline prices

[Ziggurat]

But since coal does not provide very much of the energy used in transporation anyway, and since that remains the more difficult problem to solve, the more pertinent issue is how to either replace the oil we use in that sector (whether it's from coal or nukes or whatever) or rearrange things enough so that we use less energy for moving people and things from one place to another. A lot less.

You want to reduce the amount people move around? There's a far better solution than anything you've proposed: increase telecommuting. Not only is it far cheaper to implement, it can actually raise quality of life too.

But none of this has much of anything to do with Keystone.

 

[Dymanic]

MORE oil from the pipeline will cause oil to cost MORE?

Logically that kind of talk will help MORE angry independent and conservative votes against the Bamster's upside down world.

Perhaps, even though the Obama administration is not the source of "that kind of talk". Somehow though, "logically" doesn't seem to me like the most apt choice of words. "Predictably" is more like it.

 

[Dymanic]

You want to reduce the amount people move around? There's a far better solution than anything you've proposed: increase telecommuting. Not only is it far cheaper to implement, it can actually raise quality of life too.

But none of this has much of anything to do with Keystone.

I believe I mentioned that the suggestions I made above were not intended as a complete list. I have advocated telecommuting in previous discussions.

 

[Dymanic]

The EIS has been completed. Are there other studies underway?

This one just released yesterday.

Unlike the more viscous and free-flowing conventional crude oil, the tar sands oil that Keystone XL will carry is a rougher mixture of raw tar sands plus natural gas liquids or other volatile petroleum products. Diluted bitumen contains higher concentrations of hazardous materials and toxins than are found in conventional crude oil, and it is also more abrasive and corrosive. Tar sands pipelines also transport oil under high pressure and at high temperatures. This means a small rupture can produce a large spill and cause significant damage. Once exposed to oxygen, the highly flammable volatile chemicals used to dilute bitumen increase the risk of explosion.

Diluted bitumen tar sands pipeline leaks are more difficult to detect than conventional oil leaks. As diluted bitumen flows through a pipeline, pressure changes within the pipeline can result in the formation of gas bubbles that can impede the oil’s flow. Sometimes these gas bubbles send faulty signals to detection systems. Because of this phenomenon, small leaks may go unnoticed by operators if they assume the leaks are gas bubbles. Moreover, if a spill occurs in a remote area, it could take a long time for the necessary equipment to be transported to the site of the spill.

Diluted bitumen’s viscosity presents unique challenges. In the case of conventional oil spills, the crude oil floats on water and can be skimmed from the surface of rivers and streams. Diluted bitumen is similarly lighter than water, but when exposed to the air the diluents quickly evaporate, leaving heavy bitumen that then sinks beneath the surface. This was the case with the Kalamazoo River spill.