Obama vetoes world access to cheap oil
- By Mitchell Blatt
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail China.org.cn, February 28, 2015
That will leave 75 percent of electricity powering electric cars still coming from non-renewable sources, such as oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear fuel.
Yet anti-development activists are even fighting against a $4 billion natural gas pipeline in New England. The need for pipelines goes beyond oil. Without natural gas, which accounted for 30 percent of U.S. energy generation in 2012, electric cars would get nowhere.
China and other developing countries, furthermore, require even more oil as they are developing their economies and raising their living standards. So Keystone is a good solution to help get more oil to the market. According to the Stockholm Environmental Institute study, Keystone could cut the oil price by $3 a barrel.
The American Petroleum Institute sounds like it is just searching for an argument when it says the pipeline won't affect extraction and transportation of Alberta oil sands. Further, the pipeline won't cause any excess carbon emissions.
While the products of the oil sands could be transported by rail, the fact is, rail transportation is more expensive and dangerous. Rail cars can explode and spill oil and often do. The EPA estimated that transporting oil by rail cannot be economically feasible if oil prices are below $65 a barrel. Developers make decisions based on economics, and they wouldn't be fighting for the pipeline if it wasn't the best option.
Denying the pipeline, then, would make it more expensive and dangerous to transport oil, thus raising its price as well as those of downstream products.
With the economy still fragile in many countries, raising the price of gasoline would hurt. Even in countries where the GDP and employment have recovered, wages are still stagnant. Cheap gas gives the working public more money to cover expenses elsewhere.
Governments exist to protect people, their security and economic interests as well. Economic development is one of the most fundamental benefits for all of humanity and roles of government. All things considered, modern amenities have made the world a much better place, with humans living longer and better off than any time in the history of the world.
Until there is a feasible alternative to replace the oil and natural gas we use today, we should build the infrastructure we need to move them.
The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/MitchellBlatt.htm
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)