Editorial: Keystone at the Finish Line

This Editorial appears in the Nov. 17 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

Since its proposal in 2008, the Keystone XL pipeline project has been a good idea hindered excessively by well-intentioned but unrealistic opponents. Now, though, as the crowning ornament to an absurd election season, it may actually come to pass.

Regrettably, the strong arguments in favor of Keystone did not lead to an epiphany. Instead, the House was expected to vote on Nov. 14 and the Senate on Nov. 18 because of Louisiana’s Dec. 6 runoff election for the U.S. Senate.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, the Democratic incumbent, and Rep. Bill Cassidy, her Republican challenger, both want to tell the home folks they did something for the oil industry, a major employer in the Pelican State. Republicans have always liked the project, while many Democrats have been opposed.

With Landrieu in need now, Democrats are yielding to help her. One wag dubbed the Senate bill the “Mary Landrieu Preservation Act of 2014.”

We’re not endorsing in the Landrieu vs. Cassidy vote, but we definitely support Keystone XL.

Bringing oil from the province of Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast is a grand undertaking. It means the United States can buy more oil from Canada rather than Middle East OPEC members. It’s a steady supply from a good neighbor.

Environmentalists say getting the oil is a dirty job and the crude should remain chastely beneath the surface of western Canada. Yes, the oil is not at all light, sweet crude as is West Texas Intermediate, but it isn’t going to stay put.

When oil prices were higher, the field was valued at the equivalent of 10 years’ worth of Canadian GDP, and the Chinese have made it clear they’re willing to buy. Shipping the oil via ocean tankers across the Pacific is not better than a pipeline for the environment or for the North American economy.

So send it here.

The building of the pipeline and its operation should be regulated. We remember the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf and don’t want to see that repeated on the nation’s farmland.

Shale oil production has proved to be a boom to the economy, although also an activity deserving of oversight. We think Keystone will offer similar benefits.

When good things happen for silly reasons, you should still take the good things. Otherwise there’s just frustration.

Proceed with Keystone.