An honest question-
wouldn’t the gas produced by this pipeline be exported anyway? I’ve read people claiming we are actually exporting oil and gos
Thanks
U.S. oil exports are about 1.6 million barrels a day: US oil imports are 13 million barrels a day.
Being both an importer and an exporter of what looks like the same thing is in the nature of trade. Many factors are involved but the most obvious is geography.
For example: if you drill and refine oil in Montana there is a ready market for this oil across the border in Calgary, Canada. So it makes perfect sense to export across the border.
Meanwhile the Canadians drill and refine oil in Quebec and export oil to Americans in Maine.
These sort of examples show why Canada is both the biggest importer of U.S. oil AND the biggest exporter of oil TO the U.S.
Free Trade allows people to make a profit - and to get cheap oil - by moving the oil in the cheapest possible way.
FR’s protectionists would have you believe that exporting oil is somehow evil and wrong. They would apparently love to destroy the economy of Montana and freeze everyone in Maine because they choose not to understand that the free market is the only effective way to use and deploy resources.