Jim Kraft, Minot
After reading what I could find on the planned Keystone XL Pipeline it became obvious how the oil industry greed created a distribution bottleneck at Cushing, Okla.
You can't explain their complaints on drilling restrictions by what we see in North Dakota. I am open to an explanation for this pipeline that makes economic sense. Oil people say the pipeline will help us to become energy independent. To say you become independent with any commodity by selling it is an oxymoron. With that rationale, a farmer would sell the seed he had for spring planting and be forced to find more in time for seeding. A Keystone pipeline already exists to transport oil from the tar sands in Canada to two points in the central U.S. The Keystone XL is said by some to be an export pipeline. When the entire continent uses oil why would you transport new oil across part of Canada and the entire United States? For vulture capitalism that is why. It is no wonder oil products have become so expensive. If this were a government project the planners would be a laughing stock. Oil is quick to blame the government for restricting drilling while it appears they have more crude than they can handle. Oil is quick to brag about their safe practices but we all witnessed the Gulf spill. There have been many very serious and damaging oil spills in the United States. Oil pays top wages and some of them use their money to attack the wages of public workers who make less. Some kind of civic pride, huh? Some North Dakota politicians say they are all for the Keystone XL pipeline yet it doesn't go through North Dakota. A representative for Keystone XL said if the United States doesn't approve the pipeline, they will ship the oil west and export it to China. One article told that they had already attempted that and were refused by British Columbia. No explanation I have heard or read about on this planned pipeline makes sense. Every explanation I have heard is filled with contradiction.
My best guess is the pipeline is for export to other countries and oil does not want to tell us that because you do not become energy independent (their stated goal) by exporting energy. Observation is said to be a good teacher. The retail price a gasoline by the major brands is nearly the same in any city in the country yet there is said to be no price fixing. Do not blame the gasoline retailer they are just pawns in the game. As with healthcare, a public option for energy commodities would fix this mess in a heartbeat. We are energy independent. The truth is said to be straight forward. All of the contradictory explanations we have heard for the Keystone XL pipeline tell me we have not heard it yet.