Not Approving Keystone Actually Puts The Environment At Greater Risk

OK, I get it.  Obama wants to play into the hands of the environmentalist lobby by rejecting the Keystone XL Pipeline; arguing that there is no strategic or economic advantage to allowing the project to go forward.  Apparently, the environmentalists seem to think that if the pipeline isn't approved, Canada will just stop producing its tar sands oil that would have to be carried by that pipeline, and the world will be saved from global warming.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Canada isn't going to walk away from billions of dollars in revenue per year and all the jobs that would provide.  The reality is that they will just keep extracting the oil and will continue to do what they have already been doing over the last 7 years while Keystone was in limbo.  That means that their oil will increasingly transverse our country by rail.  A fact that resulted in record train oil spills in 2014; causing millions to be spent for cleanup; assuming it can actually be cleaned up.

Additionally, Canada already has plans to sell its oil internationally, since the U.S. has been dragging its feet on Keystone.  Despite what environmentalists seem to think, that oil will be used to provide fuel for an ever-increasing number of the world's gasoline-powered automobiles. 

So, essentially our own environment may suffer from increased rail oil spills,  and the  atmosphere will probably suffer from less effective refining in other countries. 

Lastly, the argument that Canada's tar sands oil is extremely dirty is another lie that was used to kill Keystone.  The U.S. actually extracts and refines even dirtier oils in places such as California and Alaska.

Between oil spills and less effective refining, the U.S. and world environments are actually at greater risk than they would be with the Keystone pipeline. 

References:

Obama’s Keystone Rejection Strengthens His Hand at Climate Talks: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/oil-train-spills-hit-record-level-2014-n293186

Oil Train Spills Hit Record Level in 2014: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/oil-train-spills-hit-record-level-2014-n293186

Canadian tar sands crude heads to Bay Area refineries: http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_23366257/canadian-tar-sands-crude-heads-bay-area-refineries

Exclusive Map: The Tar Sands Pipeline Boom: http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20120430/exclusive-map-tar-sands-pipeline-boom

How clean is our ‘dirty’ oil? You’d be surprised: http://ipolitics.ca/2014/07/18/how-clean-is-our-dirty-oil-youd-be-surprised/