Dear Keystone XL opposers: I consider myself an environmentalist who is deeply concerned about the future of our planet, and yet I can’t help but think your opposition of this project is somewhat unfounded. Here’s why.
I think this country’s dependence on oil is greater than you think. Yes, that can be changed and yes, there are alternative, renewable energy sources. The problem is that none of those solutions are viable at the moment. Right now, all we can hope for is to slowly reduce our oil consumption and move to the alternatives. But it’ll take decades, whether we like it or not.
Now, having said that, we need to ask ourselves how much liquid, easily extractable oil still remains worldwide. Based on what I read, I think the answer is: not enough. Without counting the tar sands and other unconventional oil sources, I believe this country will experience a severe “peak oil” event not too long from now. Most major oil wells worldwide are currently drying up, which means that, if you consider China’s seemingly infinite appetite for oil, the US is going to have a hard time procuring oil in the next couple of decades.
Without unconventional oil, I believe we are heading for a potentially disastrous scenario in which oil prices rise dramatically (think several times what they are today), bringing disastrous results if it happens too soon, at a time when the country still runs on oil. You’d likely see severe economic collapse at that point — and it would happen long before we’d see any global warming or other environment effects. I’m talking massive price increases in transportation, food, you name it. The infrastructure in this country isn’t even close to being able to run on anything other than oil. At least not yet.
Bottom line: Projects like the tar sands and Keystone XL are ugly and dirty, but it’s too late to stop them — we’re addicted to oil, and abruptly interrupting its supply would have catastrophic repercussions. Think of Keystone XL as a bandaid — something to keep us going for a few more decades until we can truly solve this problem.
I think that’s why Obama is supporting it. I think the administration has done the analysis and somewhere in Washington there’s a file that says that without these types of solution, this country is at risk of a real economic meltdown. This will happen when liquid oil availability runs low, regardless of whether it’s for political reasons to do with some of the least stable OPEC nations, or due to simple supply and demand reasons. Basically, I think Obama has no real choice.
At the same time, I do think it’s hugely important to invest in alternative energy technologies. That’s how we’ll get out of this problem: Not by blocking oil-related projects, but rather by pushing and supporting alternative, renewable energy technologies. These two things need to happen simultaneously.
