The Keystone Pipeline and the San Onofre Nuclear Facility

When it all comes down to it…..everything is about the land.  Those of you who have seen “Excalibre”, all about King Arthur, The Knights of the Round Table, Merlin and of course all the bad ones with their own ideas – might well understand why evil is always around us and why we all need to constantly protect “the Land”.  We need to be one with the land.  We need to take care of our environment, our cities, our counties, our states and our country.  Even the world.  We cannot simply sit in a box and plainly pretend that things in our environment can’t be harmed or can’t hurt us.  We need to be Globally aware!  We are the land…and the land is us!

tar sands

Flows REAL smooth!

President Obama is considering making a concession to Big Oil and allowing the dreaded Keystone Pipeline that would run from Canada to Galveston, Texas.  The pipeline however is not just a regular oil pipe that we think is like the Alaskan Sweet Crude we brought in some years back.  No this oil is from Tar Sand.  It is a purely “bitter pill to swallow”.  This is a very corresive mixture which if allowed ot foul our aquafers and bodies of water along the way and will do unrepairable damage to our enviroment.  We need to back up however and try and understand why TransCanada, a huge oil company in Canada, wants to send this tough to refine toxic product all the way across the United States to have it made into gasoline for China, India and other areas of the world.  None of this oil will be headed or destined for gas tanks in North or South America.

Keystone would start in Hardesty, Alberta and nearly 2000 miles later arrive in Galveston, Texas.  American Refiners would create gasoline, put it onto tankers and send it across the world.  What seems amazing is that American Refiners have been cutting back the number of Refineries for the last 30 years.  As those that pay attention might notice, there are constant references to the fact that there is not enough Refining Capacity and that is what causes Shortages, Price Spikes and in fact leaves little or no time for repairs to these same facilities.  Every time a Refinery shuts down for repairs…..the cost of gasoline goes up.  There is no over capacity for the domestic market, but in fact much of what is produced in the United States goes out already – as Export fodder.

Hardesty, Alberta is where Keystone would start.  It is little more that 500 miles to the coast of Vancover and Victoria, Canada and those ports.  The problem seems to be that Canada doesn’t want a bunch of awful, smoke belching refineries mucking up their tourists centers on the west coast of Canada.  They plainly do not want the pollution or the potential environmental damage, in case of a break in the oil line or other accident.  Hey, if that happens in Nebraska……who cares, think the Canucks?  This is a 36 inch pipe…….unprotected from Terrorists, Truckers Gone Wild and Spring Break party people!

The big argument which has President Obama waffling is jobs!  How many jobs would be created and for how long if the Keystone Pipeline is created?  The most they can come up with is from 2500-4650 part time construction jobs.  The US Chamber of Commerce however, says 20,000 jobs.  Since the jobs are not centrally located, the multiplier effect on the economy with be far less than for construction jobs in major metropolitan centers and communities.  The Keystone XL is a $13 Billion dollar project.  It would employ 16 thousand electronic sensors to monitor the pipeline.  What about physical security?  Will be require guards with eyesight of each other 24 hours a day?  Or will they simply employ cameras and drones to surveil the pipeline as they do in Alaska?

This is a very bad idea.  If it was so good, TransCanada would have sold it to the Ottawa Government long ago and that pipeline would be going a short 500 miles to the Pacific Ocean and landing in their own Canadian refineries and oil tankers.

But before we go on and on about how foolish the Keystone Pipeline idea would be for America…….we have a bit of our own problem right down the coast near San Clemente.  The San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant has been down for quite a while.   It is estimated that the shutdown at San Onofre has cost Southern California Edison around $437 Million dollars in lost revenue.  It you take the $622 Million for the two new Mitsubishi Steam Generators and Power tubes that have failed in record time, either due to poor design or simply ramping up the power demand curve –  beyond its own element and design restrictions.   The reality is that after just about a cool $Billion Dollar mistake, the time has come to totally re-tool and do the job – all over again….if we are to get it right the next time!

President Obama has been doing a great job – in spite of the public relations campaign by the Republicans in and to an opposite position.  We ask that the President stay the course that he initially took on Keystone and “Just Say NO!”  Ask far as San Onofre Nuclear Facility is concerned, even though Homer Simpson has been laid off…….we strongly believe that you cannot fool with Mother Nature or Nuclear Energy.  There are very tough restrictions that need to be followed and there are very strong principles that need to be brought to the table.  “You can’t buy your way into a polluted and dangerous environment in the name of the Almighty Dollar!”  Sorry Big Oil…….find another wild idea to rip off the energy buying public.  Southern California Edision – just do it right and do not try to short cut the system to make a buck.  We are always going to be here buying your product…….so take your time ripping us off.  We will like you better that way!  Earthquakes occur all the time in California and we need to be prepared…..especially if you folks are not going to consider all the consequences of another, not so bright idea.

The Keystone Pipeline and the San Onofre Nuclear Facility are canaries in the coal mine and we should pay serious attention to both!

 


About Ron & Anna Winship

Independent News Producers/Writers and Directors for Parker-Longbow Productions. Independent Programming which includes a broad variety of Political, Entertainment and Professional Personalities. Cutting Edge - a talk show...is the flagship of over 30 URL websites developed or under development. The Winships have been blogging for the Orange Juice since back when nickels had buffalos on them, and men wore onions attached to their belts, because it was the fashion back then.