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One can well imagine Moe’s apoplectic response if, say, the governor of California had urged Biden to “explore opportunities to compel” Saskatchewan to levy carbon taxes in the interests of a crucial global problem.
The 1,897-kilometre KXL would have carried 830,000 barrels of crude oil daily from Alberta’s oilsands to Nebraska, connecting with the original Keystone pipeline running to the U.S. Gulf Coast refineries.
However, the prolonged KXL saga has seen Canadian producers moving 500,000 barrels a day to the U.S. via rail, with nothing to suggest that building the pipeline actually would add 800,000 barrels of new oilsands production instead of diverting some rail traffic.
Among those who have Biden’s ear, heavy crude from Alberta’s oilsands has the reputation of being “dirty oil,” no matter that carbon emissions from their production have been steadily reduced by more than 30 per cent over the past two decades.
Adding to Western Canada’s international image problem has been the well publicized resistance of the Alberta and Saskatchewan governments to Ottawa’s imposition of a carbon tax, taking their fight to the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, American shale gas production has increased to a point where it is steadily replacing imports of foreign oil with domestic production. Canada’s exports, which used to make up about 50 per cent of U.S. imports, no longer carry the same urgency.
So much for Moe’s contention that KXL is a key part of North American energy security.
