The Keystone XL pipeline project approval circus is getting more farcical
with former US president Jimmy Carter weighing on this project. Carter joined some Nobel Laureates– Archbishop
Desmond Tutu is one of them – in issuing an open letter to US President and
Secretary of State seeking rejection of the pipeline.
Carter and the other writers have expressed
their opposition in quite vehement terms; among other things saying that “Keystone
XL project is the linchpin for tar sands expansion and the increased pollution
that will follow, triggering more climate upheaval with impacts felt around the
world.”
Let’s try to understand what these folks are trying to
say. So, they are saying
that this one pipeline – Keystone XL – which is supposed to transport 830,000
barrels of bitumen per day, will cause so much pollution that it will trigger
climate upheaval with impact felt around the world?!!! Really?!!! Can
anyone in right frame of mind make such a ludicrous, nonsensical, irrational
statement?
Then why did Carter and others allowed
their names to be used for such a ludicrous, nonsensical, irrational assertion?
Seriously, why?
Is it senility or something else that has
afflicted them? After all, one assumes that Carter
et al should have this much of commonsense to realize that just one pipeline carrying less than a
million barrels of crude per day which is just about one percent of current
crude oil production worldwide cannot by any
stretch of rational sense ‘trigger climate upheaval’. It is flat out nonsense.
Yet, these so-called intellectuals have affixed their name to such gargantuan irrational,
foolish statement.
Of all the persons whose names are listed in the open letter, Carter
should know best the enormous advantage US stands to gain through STRATEGIC
partnership with Canada of which Keystone is a major component.
Advantage of being energy giants! Imagine the scenario wherein US and Canada can stand together as stable,
dependable energy superpowers with massive amount of oil and gas at their disposal
for export to the world in today’s global uncertainty – uncertainty in gas and
oil supply from regions in Europe, Middle East, Africa. But Carter overlooks
all this! Why?
Do the people who have written this letter really
believe that by killing one pipeline they will make any meaningful impact in
regard to the so-called pollution problem? If they do, they are dumb-asses. If
these people had raised their voice against global use of fossil fuel that
would have still made some sense at least. It is a
different discussion though the theory propounded by some scientists, that the
so-called CO2 generated from combustion of crude oil is responsible
for ‘climate change’, is total balderdash and piffle.
In the letter
there is another assertion that is
completely dubious. This is regarding the so-called impacts on First
Nations of Northern Alberta – apparently their water, air, land and human
rights are being ‘devastated’ by growth of oil sands. It appears that this kind
of statement is drafted by someone who has no clue of the reality prevailing in
Northern Alberta. Nothing but some sensational stuff meant to stir emotions of
those unfamiliar with the ground realities!!
So, coming back to the question: what made
these people to jump on this Keystone XL bandwagon? Do they also want to be included in the post-scripts of climate change
‘crusade’? Or, maybe they want to have their names included in the list of
knights in shining armor who saved the world from some ‘climate change
apocalypse’? On this point of climate change it must
be mentioned that unfortunately the world is currently in the grip of a massive
hoax predicated on climate change – a hoax similar to what history saw in
Galileo’s time when people thought sun goes around earth.
So, if it’s true that the above cited letter writers are unable to
control their inner cravings to have their names included in a so-called
climate change crusade, well, then that can be said to be stemming from
senility (or some psychological disorder) in some way or the other. It is sad that
these people failed to realize that campaigning against just one pipeline is
totally meaningless – killing one pipeline will not make any dent whatsoever. If they had to really achieve anything substantive, they
could have raised their voice against something on global scale, say, against all
heavy oil – be it from Saudi Arabia or Venezuela or US or China, not just
against Canadian heavy oil.
So, now the pressure is on President Obama. On one hand former president
Clinton, Warren Buffet et al have reportedly supported Keystone XL pipeline apart
from host of current Democrat Senators. As well, a former National Security Advisor
of US testified before Senate recently that Keystone is INDEED in the national
interests of US, rejection of Keystone would be playing in the hands of Putin.
People may be
reminded that, unfortunately, Obama was ‘framed’ by the shrewd Europeans in his
early days of presidency by very cleverly putting the albatross of Nobel Peace
Prize around his neck. And, now Obama is continually getting
crushed under its weight in the context of leaving behind a legacy.
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