EnergyNOW! Tackles Keystone XL, And Talks To Me About Pipelines
On Sunday, energyNOW! news tackled the Keystone XL debate in a wide-ranging half hour program that covered the controversial pipeline in typically comprehensive fashion.
An overview intro segment looks at the "impact on America," from the alleged reduction of imports of OPEC crude to potential for pollution. Reporter Thalia Assuras' trip to Nebraska to talk to local 'Huskers — landowners and politicians alike — is fascinating.
The show then travels up to Alberta, whose Athabasca tar sands reserves would feed the Keystone XL pipeline, funneling filthy DilBit crude down to Gulf Coast refineries.
The last segment features an exclusive interview with Energy Secretary Steven Chu, which they teased a few weeks back. (And which, you might recall, I responded to at the time, calling his claim that Keystone XL would increase our national "energy security" cynical politics.)
If you're able to spend a half hour learning about this urgent hot-button issue, this show is a great place to start. If you can't see the embedded video below, you can watch on energyNOW's website.
As a supplement to their Keystone XL program, and part of their ongoing Reporter's Notebook series, yours truly sat down and talked to energyNOW! about energy pipelines in general. If you've been reading my ongoing series about energy pipelines, you've likely heard most of this. But you haven't seen me talk about it awkwardly into a webcam!
How do we need to rally
How do we need to rally together and protest this? I believe if we got the American Trucking Association involved in this fight we could possibly get legislation enacted to require this to be hauled on trucks. At their projected capacity of 830,000 barrels per day this would translate to about 25,000 truck driving jobs. 1500-2000 support personnel such as mechanics, service personnel, dispatchers, and Management. Then add in the fact that there will be around 12,500 additional trucks pass each other through this corridor and there will need to be a lot of fuel stops, restaurants, highway maintenance crews and construction contractors. Then add in that truck and trailer manufactures would be busier building new trucks and trailers. Tire companies. State troopers and DOT. This could be the biggest “Jobs Bill” we could do in the near future. Pipelines are a BAD use trucks.
Has anybody looked in to
Has anybody looked in to using pick ups and light vehicles for safe fuel transport. I could carry a certain amount of oil and natural gas in the trunk of my Corolla. ... Oh wait - we could use hybrids ! That would be efficient.
Never thought about that!
Never thought about that! Have you done any figures on how many Corrolas. This would also help Japan recover from their little spill.