Laura Kiesel’s article for The Street reads more like a roundup of Keystone XL opponents’ press releases than objective reporting. In fact, every citation in her piece is ripped straight from the opponents’ playbook, and each claim OSFC has previously debunked. Here are the facts:
- Keystone XL will have “no material impact” on greenhouse gas emissions: The American public is going to give more credibility to the Department of State, IHS CERA, and energy and climate experts who have all said that Keystone XL will not significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions. As David Keith, a climate scientist at Harvard said, “The extreme statements — that this is ‘game over’ for the planet — are clearly not intellectually true…”Read More.
- Keystone XL Will Create Thousands of Jobs: The State Department has said that Keystone XL will support 42,100 American jobs and will put $2 billion in workers’ pockets. And the job creation won’t stop after construction: the Canadian Energy Research Institute predicts that Keystone XL will create 117,000 new U.S. jobs over the next 15 years which can be attributed to oil sands development linked to the project. Read More.
- Gas Price Claim Debunked: Kiesel’s claim that gas prices will rise has been debunked by the State Department which found: “Midwest product prices are derived from Gulf Coast prices, both of which are in turn driven by international (rather than U.S. inland) crude oil prices. Enabling (additional volumes of) WCSB crudes to flow to the Gulf Coast would not change this dynamic.” Further, it’s about supply and demand – and it’s clear that North America has the supply. As the International Energy Agency (IEA) recently found, thanks in large part to oil sands development, North America will be “all but self-sufficient” in its energy needs by 2035. Read More.
- Conflict of Interest: As we’ve pointed out many times, activists have tried this stunt before in an effort to further delay the process, but when the State Department Office of Inspector General looked into the matter last year they found no sign of wrongdoing.
Kiesel may be writing an opinion piece, but if so she should make that clear. A more objective, honest piece would have provided her readers with the facts instead of reprinting opponents’ press releases.
