SUN JOURNAL • February 2, 2021
Little passion greeted President Joe Biden’s decision to kill the Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline was an artifact from an earlier time. When it was proposed in 2008, the price of crude had jumped to over $120 a barrel, causing some to fret that the energy supply would fall short of demand. Oil is now down to about $50 a barrel. American oil producers won’t be losing much sleep over the loss of a venture that would have added to supply, possibly depressing their prices even more. The earliest objections to the pipeline were mostly environmental. Ranchers, farmers and Native Americans worried that pipeline leaks would foul groundwater. Its demise also ended ugly eminent domain fights, as the Canadian pipeline builder tried to force landowners to give it right of way across their farms. The debate over the Keystone XL pipeline had its day. It is dead. ~ Froma Harrop