Posted on 01/05/2015 10:41:53 AM PST by thackney
False. Most of the Canadian oil sands are too deep for strip-mining. Most will be "harvested" from wells with the top soil left in place.
In Alberta, 80 per cent (135 billion barrels) of the oil sands are buried too deep below the surface for open pit mining and can only be accessed through in-situ methods such as Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD).
I haven't heard the "water supplies at risk" excuse, or seen any proof. We could use some more Global Warming. If only we had some control over it.
The tech behind the Keystone Pipeline
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/12/31/tech-behind-keystone-pipeline/
Advanced steel is part of it. The current part of the Keystone pipeline that already exists uses 2,638 miles of hardened steel built to “withstand impact from a 65-ton excavator with 3.5-inch teeth,” according to TransCanada, the company behind the Keystone pipeline.
The steel is also coated with alloys to prevent it from wearing out.
“They use all kinds of methodologies to reduce friction. Corrosion inhibition is pretty sexy stuff in this business,” Eric Smith, associate director of Tulane University’s Energy Institute, told FoxNews.com
Pumping stations are another critical part. All along the pipeline, pumps move the oil using centrifugal force: a motor spins and forces oil to the edges of the pump, which causes more oil to rush forward to take the place of the oil pulled to the edges.
Each pump has 6,500 horsepower – meaning that the pump exerts an amount of power roughly equivalent to that of 6,500 horses. Total pumping power on the existing pipeline is nearly half a million horsepower, according to TransCanada.
Another critical technology is leak detection systems. The existing Keystone pipeline, for instance, has sensors that collect data from 20,000 different points along the pipeline.
If a leak occurs anywhere along the pipeline, the pressure in the pipeline changes, and TransCanada notes that such changes travel through the pipeline at the speed of sound and so can be detected nearly instantly.
The company adds that the pipeline has “fail-safe” mechanisms that automatically reduce oil pressure in the pipeline to safe levels.
TransCanada also has airplanes monitor the pipeline from the sky, using both the eyes of human pilots and a “Laser Spectroscopy Unit” that shoots a laser near the pipeline and then analyzes the reaction of whatever material is hit by the laser beam. TransCanada says this is “capable of identifying tiny methane leaks at patrol altitudes.”
Keystone, it would seem, is already a successful project in that it has provided cover with all its concentration of leftist green ire away from the other projects that are getting the job done.
I don’t necessarily buy into the Republic global corporate mantra.
I oppose eminent domain by any corporation, be it foreign or domestic. I’m not a fan of the Keystone Pipeline or any pipeline that is built to export oil. Then it is not a USA public utility but a plan to make profits for foreign corporations and shareholders, at the expense of American property owners.
Additionally I support landowners receiving an ongoing royalty on any use of their land as a pipeline to carry oil, just as Hollywood entertainers get lifetime profits for the use of their often crap entertainment. The reality is that a pipeline through your property is a detriment and perpetual liability. It is not an asset unless the landowner is paid royaties for that use of property.
If the oil remains non-exportable and intended to make the USA energy sufficient and to make us more competitive, then a case can be made on eminent domain. If not, I see eminent domain for profit as a most vile anti-American form of crony corporatism.
“Proposals to expand Pacific Coast oil facilities could boost that to 137 trains a week by 2020”
Maybe they need a pipeline to go from the Balkan to Vancouver, Wa. ?
Or is there already one proposed? It seems like the ROI would pretty easy to calculate based on what it costs for each BNSF train plus the additional loading and offloading costs at origin and destination.
Interrupted:The First Nation people need to get a piece of the action
http://www.transmountain.com/proposed-expansion
From the Balkans would be a tough pipeline to build ;-)
I don't see government selection of road locations much better than utility construction.
I do assume you want your electricity, natural gas and transportation fuel to be available at competitive prices.
There is another pipeline that is being quietly stitched together using existing pipe infrastructure in Ontario that ultimately leads to the Atlantic. A short segment in the Maritimes (I think) still has to be built to reach the coast north of Maine, but after that they can run supertankers down to Gulf of Mexico to reach the US refineries in TX, LA, and MS that are equipped to refine the heavy sulfur-rich crude.
It’s cheaper than rail, but not as cheap as a direct pipeline. The point is that the environmentalists’ argument that stopping the Keystone pipeline will somehow prevent that oil from getting out and raising CO2 levels is stupid. The oil is getting out. The only question is how.
The Energy East Pipeline. http://www.energyeastpipeline.com/
Yep, they are just spending more energy, less efficient methods, and still getting it to market.
Maybe they need a pipeline to go from the Balkan to Vancouver, Wa. ?
They can also run it due east to Saint John, New Brunswick where JD Irving has his refinery right on the Atlantic Ocean.
The oil train that burned down the town in Quebec a couple years back was going to the Irving refinery in NB.
The other major destination for many of these oil trains going east are the refineries in NJ. The CPRS is bringing oil trains to Albany, NY. From there they are transferred to a barge that brings it down the Hudson River to Newark, NJ. These are the refineries that supply the NYC area. There are also refineries further south that supply the Philly, Baltimore, and DC markets.
Therefore, the densest population centers in North America could be supplied with petroleum products from the US/Canada. I would assume these areas use more gasoline, diesel fuel and heating oil than all of the Midwest and Southeast combined. Prior to three years ago I would have thought that most of the petroleum products used in the northeast came from foreign countries other than Canada.
By the way, the environMENTALists and NIMBYs have the same desire.
Buy a 1 foot wide strip along the farmland. Grant the farmer surface easement. Stop all energy development forever.
I realize: Bakkan/Balkan
I was being a smart A$$.
I always mix those two up.
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