Evan Dunker

Ms.Snyder

English 2

10/8/18

Keystone XL Pipeline

One of the most controversial topics in our society is the Keystone XL Pipeline. Some people want it and others don’t. The main reason some people want the Keystone XL pipeline is because of the job creation and economy boost in North America; some people may think that it would create jobs for a brief time and have a brief economy boost in North America; some people are against the pipeline but the get money for it going through their land puts them in the middle of the road.  The main moral issue is the fact that we don’t care about Gods’ creation and would rather have a pipeline going through than keep the creation as God made it, along with us only caring about the money.

    Some people think the pipeline will create jobs in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska along with some on the Canadian provinces. The amount of jobs range from 3,700 in Montana to 4,500 in Nebraska, along with another 42,000 direct and indirect nationwide (TransCanada). With the fact at all the jobs will be well-paying and not need much training needed. This is one of the main issues because of the traveling to the jobs that would create more carbon dioxide and make climate change more rapid than it already is, and cause more greenhouse gases to be put into the atmosphere.

    On the other hand some people think that their can be no jobs created because we are in a “dead plant” (Ann DeMoro) and most jobs can be done by machines, and their will only be 35 post-construction jobs and most won’t be long term. Along with the fluctuation of cars causing  the accelerated climate change and the health hazards from the pipeline, for example the tar sand and the pipeline spills in Michigan and Arkansas (Hanlon). This is a moral issue, because the post-construction jobs will also cause more rapid climate change.

    The people that are pro-pipeline think that their will be a economic boost in all of North America. As it will be around $3 billion towards the U.S. GDP and will create around $12 million in property taxes. Along with the county budgets helping to keep low tax dollars and fund projects. This is an issue because the more oil we take out, the more the environment will change because of the pipeline.

    The people that are anti-pipeline think that their will be no economic boom, and there will be more money put into the project, then what we get out of it, and the possibility of a leak is more expensive than the profit that we will get out of it, as we are in major debt in the US and the debt is Canada doesn’t look any better. And we go more into debt than we already are along with another recession.

Another reason that some people want the pipeline is that the price of oil has gone up like the price of gold. “In 1971 an ounce of gold at $35 bought 15 barrels of oil at $2.30, in 1980 an ounce at $480 bought 15 barrels at roughly $32, and presently an ounce at $1,300 buys 13 barrels at $100; the latter signaling that oil is most likely to decline in price assuming gold stays where it is,” said John Tamny from Forbes Magazine in May 2018, as it shows that the price of oil rising like the price of gold has over the years as we have found more uses for it.

No matter how you feel about it the pipeline. The main moral issue is that we don’t care about the creation that God made; all we think about first is the money, and then we think about how we can accomplish what we want with no care about the world around us or the impact that it will have on the environment, even with the possibility of disasters hitting the area and taking out what we build.

 

Cited Sources

 

For

• “5 Reasons to Support TransCanada’s Keystone XL.” TransCanada – Home,             www.transcanada.com/en/stories-container/energysources/5-reasons-to-support-keystone-xl/.
• Tamny, John. “There Are Great Arguments For Keystone XL, But Its Supporters Don’t Know Them.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 4 May 2014, www.forbes.com/sites/johntamny/2014/05/04/there-are-great-arguments-for-keystone-xl-but-its-supporters-dont-know-them/#1519cd1b2219.

 

Against

• DeMoro, Rose Ann. “10 Reasons to Oppose the Keystone XL Pipeline.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 20 Apr. 2014, www.huffingtonpost.com/rose-ann-demoro/10-reasons-to-oppose-the-_1_b_4791713.html.
• Hanlon, Kevin. “Anti-Pipeline Group Goes Back to Work against Keystone XL.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 14 Dec. 2017, www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-pipelines-keystone/anti-pipeline-group-goes-back-to-work-against-keystone-xl-idUSKBN1E72D6.