Wildlife and Habitat Conservation News: Obama Rejects Keystone XL Pipeline. (2015, November 9). Retrieved November 23, 2015, from http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/49141
Obama rejected the Keystone XL Pipeline on November 9, 2015, stating that the oil pipeline was not in America’s best interests. There has been a fierce debate between business and environmentalists, with 2 million comments submitted to the State Department and thousands of rallies against the Keystone Pipeline throughout the nation. Obama believed that the environmental cost of the pipeline was too much. He stated that the cost to people and wildlife would be enormous, and that it would trump the potential profit. Environmentalists hope that his decision will mark a turning point in American history, where we start using sustainable energy sources instead of fossil fuels.
This article focuses on the political science aspect of environmental science. The debate about this pipeline has raged for years, and culminated with a win for the climate. However, the fossil fuel lobby isn’t done yet. In the coming years, they will attempt to impede substantial alternative energy legislation. While this is a major win, environmental advocacy groups may not fully grasp the fight ahead of them. Fossil fuels are deeply engrained in American society. It powers our cars, and provides billions of dollars in revenue every year. While our dependency on fossil fuels has been stopped from increasing, it will be an entirely different matter altogether to substitute alternative energy for already existing fossil fuel sources.
This is very true Arin; the fight is not over, and the decision may be overturned. I think that while the pipeline may provide jobs, and give us energy “dependence”, I think that the environmental effects are too large to ignore. It is best to continue our current use of fossil fuels, and continue to develop/expand alternative energy services. Do you think that in the upcoming few years the Keystone XL pipeline proposal will be passed?
I don’t think it will be passed, but pro-business members of Congress will continue to reference it as the wrong call and a failure of the Obama administration
I think that each side of this argument has a valid point as opponents rightfully predict that it will alter not only the aesthetic value of a community but its functionality as well. Additionally, it runs over aquifers that could be easily polluted from a leak in the pipe. But it is a better way to transport the oil that doesn’t produce as might emissions and pollution as transport by truck and rail might.