Thank you, Mr. Degel, for opening the pipeline debate

Dear Editor,

Thank you Mr. John Degel for opening the Keystone XL debate:

The TransCanada ads about the pipeline remind me of the Pegasus Gold scam that Phillips Co. endured. One day Pegasus thanked everyone for helping pass the legislation they had asked for in order to continue providing local jobs. That same day Pegasus announced they were closing their Zortman mine. The cleanup cost more than the bonds Pegasus had put up. Local jobs were created in the cleanup but Montana taxpayers got stuck with the bill. Just a neighborly Canadian corporate gesture!

Now, I do understand that Keystone XL will have some beneficial effects locally. Thanks to Jeanie Barnard for addressing local benefits in a way that I know I can double check if I so desire.

The Keystone XL will transport fossil fuel to a tax free gulf port. According to one writer that researched the subject, the oil will also be refined there. My husband asked our Public Service Commissioner what energy/economic benefit the U. S. could expect from shipping the oil to a tax free export facility. The reply: the oil has to enter the world market—if there is enough oil it will cheapen out energy costs.

Think about that for a minute. It uses fuel and costs money to run big ocean tankers. The countries owning those tankers will charge to and from the U.S. with the fuel. They will probably also collect some taxes as most countries like to benefit their own citizens (or politicians). Any of that fuel purchased and used in the U.S. will therefore cost more due to taxes and fuel costs.

Oil refineries cause carbon dioxide emissions. The U.S. considers itself a developed country that is responsible for carbon dioxide emissions. Therefore the U.S. will have to cut carbon dioxide emissions from such things as coal fired electric generation plants to make up for refining the oil they want to put on the global market.

This brings up another problem. Burning fossil fuels increases carbon dioxide emissions. When those fossil fuels were buried (removed from our atmosphere) the world was a very different place. Not particularly friendly to life as we know it. Politicians confuse ancient carbon (carbon fuels) with the normal carbon cycles of the present. For example—a growing tree absorbs carbon dioxide. When that tree dies/burns/rots, that carbon dioxide will re-enter the atmosphere. You may delay that process by using the wood as lumber or furniture but it will also eventually burn or rot and return the carbon to the atmosphere to be reabsorbed by another tree/growing plant. Since politicians are confused about this scientific fact, they wish to ban things like cows burping. If the U.S. has to refine Canadian oil and Bakken oil for the world market, we just might have to ban burping by beer drinkers also!

Rose Stoneberg

Timber Creek