Eisenhower Report: Keystone Xl

Eisenhower Report: Keystone XL

        Oil will soon become the dinosaur from which it came as oil reserves will eventually run out and become extinct. Renewable energy is the future, and in some places it’s even the present, as Canada “produced 63.4 percent of its electricity from renewable sources (Rosenthal).” The Keystone XL pipeline should not be approved because it’s a step backwards and would negatively affect job creation, climate change, and the environment.

Lobbyists claim that the Keystone XL pipeline will provide 100,000 jobs. However, a “State Department assessment found it would create 1,950 jobs for a two-year period, after which it would generate only 50 permanent jobs (Eilperin).” Only 50 dismal jobs! On the other hand, investing in alternative energy could “create 58,000 jobs in New York State alone (Rosenthal).” Imagine the job creation on a nationwide scale.

Keytstone XL harms our climate because the increase in oil production would create a massive amount of carbon pollution, comparable to “Americans driving an unthinkable 60 billion extra miles every year.”(NRDC). This, in turn, would intensify the greenhouse gas effect and melt the world’s glaciers at an even more rapid rate.

Keystone XL also hurts the environment. After tar sands are mined, they leave “behind a filthy legacy in the form of toxic sludge stored in giant, largely unregulated ponds (NRDC).” Billions of liters of wastewater already seep out of these ponds and poison the earth (Grandia). A Keystone XL deal would worsen this grave amount of pollution.

As you can see, the Keystone XL is a bad deal because it’s a step backwards and hurts job creation, climate change, and the environment. Our country should focus on renewable energy instead of investing in an aging resource.

Works Cited

Cox, John. "The Keystone XL Pipeline and Its Politics, Explained." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 4 Feb. 2014. Web. 19 Oct. 2015. .

Grandia, Kevin. "10 Reasons Canada Needs to Rethink the Tar Sands." DeSmog Canada-Clearning the PR Pollution. 16 May 2013. Web. 19 Oct. 2015. .