Final Exam Essay One
Analyzing the Controversy behind the Northern Gateway Pipeline
Proposed in the mid-2000’s, the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline would send crude oil from just outside of Edmonton, Alberta to ports in Kitimat, British Columbia. From there it would be loaded onto tankers and shipped to countries in Asia. The Energy East Pipeline was proposed in 2013 and would send the oil towards New Brunswick and possibly Quebec. While theoretically this seems like an ideal way to quickly and efficiently ship large amounts of crude oil across the country to facilitate large amounts of trade and boost the economy, these pipelines have been the subject of massive controversy from a large number of groups. In this essay, I will briefly highlight the regional and national controversies, as well as backlash from interest groups and party politicians, who have opposed the pipelines for unique, broad, and irrefutable reasons.
Minority Nationalism One of the largest controversies surrounding the Pipeline projects was from the Aboriginal Community. The proposed pipelines would cover the land of over 40 Aboriginal groups, and they are all (or mostly all) vocally opposed to the project. As reported on CBC, 28 Aboriginal Communities have banded together to sign documents calling for the pipeline project to be banned. Aboriginal communities in British Columbia have filed 18 different legal challenges against Enbridge, the builder of the Northern Gateway pipeline, claiming they
Canada is composed of many different regions, each with their own individual characteristic and form of government. There is always a chance of issues potentially rising when provinces have to come together to agree on controversies. One matter arising interprovincial conflict is the Alberta pipeline. Alberta needs to move their stranded oil either to the east or west coast which unfolds many tensions. Going west up brings a major conflict with British Columbia and the coast, where as going east involves passing through multiple provinces each with their own opinion of the pipeline. Most of these provinces also include crossing aboriginal land which is a whole other problem along with the premiers of each province. Reason to believe the pipeline has disadvantages include; the aboriginals protest about their land, the environmental contract with quebec, along with other provinces and transportation, a common dispute. The alberta pipeline causes conflict across the country as it affects its citizens and causes political disagreement. While the pipeline hinders national stability with the aboriginals, and between premiers it does benefit the oil and transportation industry.
The Keystone XL is a controversial oil pipeline extension that would travel from Alberta, Canada, to the United States Gulf Coast. The Keystone XL should not be built because of the damage it would cause to the environment. The oil would be found within tar sands that contain bitumen. The process of extracting the crude oil uses a lot of energy and causes a large amount of greenhouse gases. Many citizens, in Canada and the United States, are outraged because it can be detrimental to the surrounding land and wildlife. TransCanada, the company building the oil pipeline, has to receive permission from the United States government to begin construction. If the United States does not have the pipeline built and chooses to not use Canada’s oil, then TransCanada will have the pipeline built elsewhere and exported to other countries. There has been a divide between those in favor of the Keystone XL and those who are not. The Keystone XL would be able to provide the United States with a reliable source of oil, but it would also take the risk of faults in the oil pipeline and ruining parts of America’s resourceful soil. The Keystone XL will cause a negative effect on the environment and damage resourceful land; therefore, the oil pipeline should not be constructed.
Almost 95 million barrels of oil and fuel are produced each day in order to provide energy and fuel to people the world over. A major component of the oil industry is the transportation of oil through various means including oil pipelines. These pipelines are capable of transporting thousands of barrels of oil thousands of miles per day. In the United States one possible pipeline has caused a lot of controversy and discussion on the impact it will have on the United States. The difficulty in deciding if the Keystone XL Pipeline should be built is in whether the possibility of economic growth outweighs the possibility of environmental destruction. In order to make a decision, one must first look into the history of oil pipelines. It is crucial
Humans need fresh water to live a healthy life. However, the Dakota Access Pipeline may take away the fresh water from the people who live downstream of the Missouri River and people at the Standing Rock Sioux. This will affect 8 million people downstream, this pipeline is an oil pipeline that will allow America to export oil cost efficiently. The Dakota Access Pipeline is approximately 1,172 miles 30- inch diameter pipeline that will start from North Dakota to Illinois. This pipeline has sponsors from 17 companies including 4 Japanese banks. However, the mass media companies had ignored topics related to the Dakota Access Pipeline. Until recently a famous actress Shailene Woodley got arrested for trespassing the area. However, this is not
The Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project has brought forth many conflicting arguments, thus resulting in some parties being for it and some against it. I believe however, the risks are far greater than the rewards. The controversies surrounding the oil pipeline have brought up significant reports regarding environmental safety and concern with also safety and concern of the public. Due to the fact that presently, there is one operational pipeline running from Alberta to the Pacific Coast, I believe the introduction of a new pipeline would have disastrous consequences if something were to happen whether being an oil spill or a fire. The NEB (National Energy Board) failed to mention significant situations in which this pipeline could significantly
“In a few decades, the relationship between the environment, resources, and conflict may seem almost as obvious as the connection we see today between human rights, democracy, and peace (Nobel Peace Prize Medalist Maathai 2004).” A Canadian oil company that goes by TransCanada hopes to build an oil pipeline that would extend an enormous 1,200 miles onto an already gargantuan 2,600 mile long pipeline. Keystone XL represents just under a third of the entire Keystone project, and every other piece of pipe has been built and laid out. In fact, TransCanada 's pipeline system is already shipping hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil from the Canadian oil sands across the U.S. border -- and into Illinois (Diamond). The current proposal would take the pipeline on a journey all the way through to Texas. Extracting crude oil from oil sands would be enormously problematic for the environment as it causes the pumping of about 17% more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than standard crude oil extraction. Tar sand oil has levels of carbon dioxide emissions that are three to four times higher than those of conventional oil, due to more energy-intensive removal and refining processes (Friends of the Earth). The construction of the Keystone XL pipeline would stimulate employment, the effects would be temporary and the whole scheme would produce a negative long term outcome. The construction of the Keystone XL pipeline has caused
The next major environmental issue of the pipeline is the indigenous populations. “Northern Alberta’s, where the tar sands oil comes from, people are coming under attack because of their operation of the tar sands in their livelihoods and cultural traditions.”5 Other people affected by this project are the people who live in communities downstream from the tailing ponds, “they have seen spikes in rates of rare cancers, renal failure, lupus, and hyperthyroidism.” “In the lakeside village of Fort Chipewyan, for example, one hundred of the town’s one thousand-two hundred residents have died from cancer.”5 So not only will this pipeline affect the people living around it but it will also affect the people working on it and living around the tailing ponds, wherever those may be located. With it traversing six U.S. states that means a lot of people could get sick and even die from a project that has so many issues with it before it’s even began to be used for its intended purpose.
With an increasing global population and ever industrializing society 's, environmental concern is rarely given priority over economic incentive. But what people fail to realize is that our environmental failures, and relative apathy about it set up a plethora of problems for future generations to deal with. One of the most important decisions president Obama will face in the next year will be whether or not to approve the building of the Keystone XL pipeline, a massively sized, and massively controversial oil pipeline that would stretch all the way from Alberta Canada, to American oil refineries along the Gulf Of Mexico. Despite the economic incentive present, the building of the Keystone XL pipeline should not happen because of the
A new rising issue is the North Dakota Access Pipeline v. Native American tribe, Standing Rock. The main reason for the pipeline is to transport crude oil through four states more safely than the current way of transporting it through 750 railroad cars daily. In the same fashion, the pipeline will convert the 750 carts to 470,000 barrels of crude oil traveling 1,172 miles a day. Under those circumstances, the line will start in Montana, traveling through North Dakota reaching Canada, then heading southeast to South Dakota and finishing up in Illinois. On the positive side, it will make 374.3 million gallons per day, resulting in giving America an economic boom. The pipeline project is predicted to be a $3.7 billion investment and producing
Along with benefits and concerns, some organizations were engaged in active campaigns to stop the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline. Some of these organizations include Douglas Channel Watch (Kitimat), Friends of Wild Salmon and Prince Rupert Environmental from Grassroots organizations in northern B.C., Dogwood Initiative and Greenpeace Canada Foundation from Provincial and National NGOs, Carrier-Sekani Tribal Council, Office of the Wet’suwet’en, Coastal First Nations and Yinka Dene Alliance from First Nations organizations and The PipeDreams Project which is a kayak expedition along proposed tanker route and On The Line which is a self-propelled journey along the length of the proposed pipeline route from Awareness-raising Expeditions.
Native Americans are being disrespected, harmed, and their homeland is being taken from them. Am I talking about events taken place centuries ago? No, because these unfortunate circumstances yet again are occurring right here, now, in the present. This horrid affair has a name: The Dakota Access Pipeline. This Pipeline is an oil transporting pipeline, which is funded by the U.S Army Corps of Engineers, who have devised a plan for the pipeline to run through the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois. However, unfortunately, this pipeline will run straight through the reservation of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe, expressing their distress for the pipeline have said, that the pipeline will be “Destroying our burial sites, prayer sites, and culturally significant artifacts,” Arguments for the pipeline however have tried to counter this claim, trying to emphasize that “The pipeline wouldn 't just be an economic boon, it would also significantly decrease U.S. reliance on foreign oil”, and that the pipeline is estimated to produce “374.3 million gallons of gasoline per day.”, which could help the sinking oil economy. (Yan, 2016) However, despite the economical growth it could achieve, the Dakota Access Pipeline could have damaging environmental effects on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the areas surrounding.
Pipelines are making headlines lately for all the wrong reasons. It is important to address why they are perceived to be harmful, if they actually are, and how they can be improved for the future, or if they should be eliminated.
Enbridge is Canada’s largest natural gas distribution company. Founded 61 years ago, it is the single largest transporter of crude oil and petroleum products in North America. On May 27, 2010, Enbridge submitted a regulatory application for a $5.5 billion project named Northern Gateway Project (NGP). This pipeline project consists of a twin pipeline system transporting petroleum and condensate from Bruderheim, Alberta, near Edmonton, to the marine terminals in Kitimat, British Columbia. Crude oil or petroleum is used to make gasoline, lubricants for machinery, asphalt, plastics, and many others everyday necessities.
This political cartoon demonstrates the dividing points of view for constructing the pipeline. One side of the pipeline has the environmentalist. The other side has the drilling proponents. In the cartoon, a fiction character is labeled saying “Politics can be messy…” as he tries to tighten the screws on the pipeline to prevent a further spill. The size of the Pipeline and tool bar are exaggerated to express that the keystone deal is controversial. The cartoon expresses that the keystone deal is messy for both the environmentalists and the drilling proponents thus has no bias. The information this cartoon provides to answer my question is, approving the construction of the pipeline will be messy. I can use this in my research paper as an opposing
The pipeline not only poses a threat to one of only 326 Native American reservations left in this country, but also to the environment as a whole. Regardless of where you stand, the wrongdoing on the part of the United States Government is undeniable. The Dakota Access Pipeline is corrupt at its core and the dangers surrounding its construction have the potential to be catastrophic to the dwindling Native population by threatening their only source of water. A significant saying within the Sioux tribe, especially in times of protest, is a simple one, but one that is clearly not understood by some, and that is “water is