Tar Sands Energy Independence? Oh, the Details!

Suppose you were President of the United States. 

You don’t like importing foreign oil, but you really don’t like depending on Middle East and other unstable producers for it. So if you could only get it from a friendly neighbor like Canada! That would be great, right?  And maybe they’d pipe it right to the center of the country, far from seaports into which the overseas stuff gets shipped.  Wouldn’t that be great?

Actually, Mr. (or Ms.) President, that what we’ve got today.  Canada is our largest supplier of oil, and it gets piped right into the Midwest, reducing oil costs in our heartland.

But suppose we changed all that.  What if, instead, we built a huge 1,700-mile pipeline that runs, not to the heartland, but straight across it to huge export terminals on the Gulf of Mexico.  And suppose that this export terminal was tax-free, so that oil exporters didn’t have to pay U.S. duties? And suppose that this pipeline was owned by a foreign company?  And suppose that the pipeline contracted to sell its oil to foreign oil companies, which are committed to selling their oil on the world markets to the highest bidders? Suppose there was no intention of keeping the oil here at home?

How does that sound to you, Mr./Ms. President? Are you feeling safer now?

Now, in case you’re actually thinking about running for president, a word of advice:  You probably shouldn’t tell the voters in advance that you’d approve something like this.  In fact, nobody would do this, right?

Um, well, let me tell you about the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, and an actual president, named Barack Obama.  You already know that the tar sands oil is filthy stuff; that it destroys indigenous tribes in Canada; that it pours mercury and other toxins into northern waterways; that the pipeline will cross 1,904 American rivers and streams; that it will likely destroy far more jobs than it creates; and that it generates almost twice as much CO2 as conventional oils.  But you were hoping, perhaps, that at least we’d have a captive supply of oil, no?

Valero's tar sands oil is going overseas

I’m so sorry, Mr./Ms. President.  The Keystone XL pipeline is an export pipeline.  It’s owned by a foreign company, TransCanada.  And TransCanada has contracted to deliver the oil to seven big oil companies:  two are Dutch (Royal Dutch Shell and Trafigura), one is Saudi (Aramco), one is French (Total S.A.), two are Canadian (CNR and Cenovus) and only one is American (Valero).

Well, thank heavens! At least one is loyal to us, right?  Surely they’ll keep their share of the oil here at home, right?

Oh, I’m so sorry.  Valero, the top beneficiary of the Keystone XL, has explicitly detailed an export strategy to its investors.  They’ve locked in at least 20 percent of the pipeline’s capacity, and it’s going to Europe and South America (see the investor presentation map above).  And because its refinery is in a Foreign Trade Zone, the company will export it tax free.

The U.S. will have provided a huge new subsidy to oil companies: importing and transporting massive amounts of toxic fossil fuels across the vital midsection of our country, only to have it exported duty free.  The American people bear the risks of spills, emissions and contamination; and companies like Valero reap the profits.  The only thing that stays behind is the pollution.

Total S.A. hardly sells anything in the U.S., with heavy focus on Europe

The same is true for all these companies: Total S.A. has 69% of its gas stations in Europe, and less than 3% in the Americas (none in the U.S.!). All these companies have the exact same motivation: Get the oil as cheaply as possible and sell it to the highest bidder, wherever they are.

These facts highlight a fundamental reality, captured in a report by OilChange International:  “The oil market is fundamentally global.  The only way to truly reduce our dependence on foreign oil is to reduce our dependence on ALL oil.”

I’m so sorry to be the bearer of such bad news, Mr./Ms. President:  There’s no energy security in this pipeline.  Now that you think about it, why would a president ever approve such a project, if corporate lobbying and campaign money was not at stake?

Oh, and what about President Obama? Well, he's poised to sign the pipeline permit before year end.

Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to write the President!  And may God bless you.

J. Elwood

More disclosures from Valero

Where's the Gulf refinery oil going?  Latin America and Europe

Valero's tar-sands oil will go to diesel-thirsty Europe

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“A Literal Hell on Earth…”

Some of you have been following my awakening to the dire risk our Lord’s world and His people face today in the form of the massive tar sands pipeline project called the Keystone XL.  It takes a while to read all this stuff, doesn’t it?

Well, here’s a short film by Josh Fox that will give you a four-minute introduction, and some remarkable footage.  It depicts about the closest thing to hell on earth that I’ve ever seen.

And if this makes you wonder about your future, or your kids’, or the wholeness of the world belonging to the God to whom you pray, here are some things you might consider:  You can tell the President what you think about this, by writing him here.  Or better yet, you could join me in paying him a visit on November 6^th; more about that here.   

And you can also join me before someone much greater than the President, asking for His Kingdom and His will on His earth:

‘Our Heavenly Father, may your name be honored; May your kingdom come, and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day the bread we need. Forgive us what we owe to you, as we have also forgiven those who owe anything to us. Keep us clear of temptation, and save us from evil.’   Jesus' prayer, from Matthew 6

Thanks for reading, and may God bless you.

J. Elwood

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You Will be My Witnesses...

 ... in Jerusalem ... and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

Yesterday Nathan Elwood and I went to the U.S. Department of State, to testify on behalf of evangelical Christians against the pending approval of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. We were joined by a mosaic of voices -- indigenous leaders, ranchers, doctors, pipeline inspectors, ministers and robed friars, an Army general, college students and more -- asking President Obama not to approve the pipeline.  We were opposed by a much smaller number -- overwhelmingly oil industry people and, sadly, unemployed union laborers bused in for the event -- repeating the claims of jobs and energy independence, as though repetition would make them true. (See my post on the "jobs" claims here.)

Here is my testimony:

My name is John Elwood.  I am an evangelical Christian; an elder in the Presbyterian Church in America; a board member of the Evangelical Environmental Network; and I represent The Micah Institute, GreenFaith, and Interfaith Power & Light. 

First Nations chiefs & citizens spoke out against tar sands

Roughly 100 million Americans identify themselves as Evangelicals. We believe that the gospel compels us to care for the created world: that God created all things; that He made mankind with a special mandate to care for all that He has made; that the creation, whether pure or despoiled, is the inheritance of our Lord Jesus Christ; and, in a world where degradation of the earth is responsible for much hunger, sickness, and conflict, we hear the command of Jesus to serve the hungry, homeless and oppressed as “the least of these brothers of mine….”

For these reasons, our faith compels us to urge our leaders, as we follow Christ, not to proceed with the proposed pipeline project.  We take this position for the following reasons:

1. Exploitation of the tar sands threatens to severely harm human health – especially amongst indigenous peoples – both by the devastation of vast tracts of Canadian ancestral lands and waterways, and by highly likely future threats to American waterways and aquifers.
2. Tar sands are among the most carbon-polluting of any fuels known to man, with life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions roughly 82% greater than the comparable emissions from conventional petroleum, according to the EPA.  As such, they harm vulnerable people all over the earth. 
3. At a time when we need to invest heavily in non-carbon-polluting energy solutions, the last-gasp exploitation of non-conventional fuels such as the tar sands represents a huge step backward, wedding our economies to unusually dirty fuels for generations. 
4. Without this pipeline, the damage from tar sands operations will be restricted for years into the future.  Its expansion depends on this project.  
5.  The job creation and energy independence touted by promoters of the pipeline are illusory.  Among scores of flaws, they ignore the job-killing impacts of increasingly severe droughts and floods; and the clearly-stated plans by the multi-national oil companies to export the tar sands products, not use them in the U.S.

Oil addiction is killing our soldiers: Gen. Anderson

When we consider these factors, the Keystone XL pipeline directly or indirectly contributes to results which are contrary to the Kingdom of God; harming His Creation; threatening the balances through which He has blessed the earth; and placing a crushing burden upon our children.

We are not experts in the U.S. national interest.  But if God is who our scriptures say He is, such a course cannot be in our interest.

Thank you.

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Tar Sands: Figures Don’t Lie…

 … but liars sure do figure.  Just like my father told me.

This fact is driven home to me every time I hear one of those commercials on the cable news channels.  You know:  The ones that don’t seem to be selling anything.  Coal will generate some amazing number of new jobs; gas drilling will power so many new homes; the postal service delivers so-and-so many letters, etc.  The numbers are usually impressive.

Here’s a remarkable one you’ve probably seen many times:  ExxonMobil parades out a smart-looking spokesman to promise “hundreds of thousands of jobs” from tar-sands mining in Canada, if a massive new pipeline gets built right across our country carrying the oil to export terminals.

All those jobs!  What’s not to like? ExxonMobil has finally really taken an interest in the plight of the American worker, right?

Well, whatever your faith in the world’s biggest oil company, beware. The numbers are left purposely vague on these commercials.  But here are the facts:  The developers of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline made the unsubstantiated claim that the pipeline would generate 20,000 temporary jobs for three years of pipeline construction.   They then commissioned a study that reported that those jobs would generate enough economic activity to support a total of 118,935 “spin-off” jobs.  And the report went further: if things go well, there could be 250,348 jobs, and maybe even 553,235 jobs! 

Wow!  In a jobs-starved economy, where do we sign up?

36" pipe all ready to go for the pipeline from Canada to Gulf export terminals

Hmm.  It might pay to look behind the numbers. 

• The U.S. Department of State estimates that pipeline construction would temporarily employ 5,000-6,000 construction workers for three years, not 20,000 touted by the developer.  6,000 jobs are equal to 1.45 days’ job creation during 2011. And 6,000 jobs, that’s one temporary job for every 25,600 American workers.
• The jobs aren’t local.  The State Department expects 85-90% of jobs to be filled by outsiders brought in to build the pipeline.  So as few as 600 temporary local jobs would be created in the entire country.
• You have to wait 100 years for all these jobs.  The "jobs" in the pipeline promoters’ study aren’t actually jobs at all; they are “person-years” of employment – over a 100-year timeline!
• 100 years!  Guesses about who will be working 4-5 generations from now, and then selling that as current job creation reveals the lengths to which the KXL pipeline’s proponents are willing to go in this job-hungry environment.
• The details are actually funny, if you look.  The promoters have said that in Nebraska, the pipeline will create 938 temporary construction jobs.  But among “indirect jobs” in Nebraska, they list more than 800 retail workers.  That’s about one new sales clerk for every direct construction worker.  What a country!

Let’s talk sense:  Any construction project will create some jobs.  That’s obvious.  But that doesn’t mean it will increase employment and prosperity over time.  Here at Good Hand Farm, we could pave our vegetable fields with asphalt, I suppose.  Think of all the jobs!  But next year, our farm workers wouldn't be all that happy, would they?

And that’s what all these discussions miss. How many jobs will be lost?

Yellowstone River: 42,000 gal. pipeline spill this summer

How many ranchers, fishing guides and others will lose their jobs due to pipeline spills in the 1,904 streams and rivers this pipeline will cross, as happened more than 400 times in the period 2003-2008?  How many farmers will lose their jobs because of droughts made more extreme by climate change, like the $5.2 billion (and counting) disaster still burning its way through Texas’ farms and forests?  How many Midwesterners will lose everything if one spill penetrates the Ogallala aquifer?  How many industrial and service employees will lose their jobs due to flooding made more severe, like those that have beset the East Coast in the last month?  And how many livelihoods will be exported to feed our ongoing national addiction to imported fossil fuels (from Canada or wherever)?

You know, President Obama can stop this madness.  He alone must sign the permit to allow all that heavy sour crude to be piped across our country’s rivers and aquifers so that six foreign and multinational oil companies can export it.  Granted, they’ve got the lobbyists and the millions in campaign contributions.  But you and I can tell the President what ordinary people think about this.  Why not write him (here)?  Or better yet, why not join me in paying him a visit on November 6^th?  You can find out more about that here.

Your voice is powerful.  Especially because the oil money has bought all the facts they need to sell the idea that our country needs the “jobs” they’ve conjured up.

Thanks for reading, and may God bless you.

J. Elwood

“So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter.  Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.  The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice.  He saw that there was no one; he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.”   Isaiah 5:14-16

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