Keystone Pipeline and Oil Use

Okay so lets begin this debate with my opening remarks. I would first like to welcome PRO to DDO and wish him a happy stay, and hope he finds this site as enjoyable as I do. I will use this round to establish my case, and use further rounds to refute my adversaries arguments. I will tackle some key points as to why the pipeline itself can be viewed as a bad idea. Remember my adversary must show that this pipeline is worth the effort that it will cost us, and show benefits of this pipeline. If he is not able to meet his BOP, his resolution will not be met. It is my job to undermine him and show why this pipeline can be considered as a bad idea, and the negative impact it will have. Lets begin this with some of my key contentions. Since he focused on three main contentions, I will try to keep this debate just around those points. Contention 1The Keystone pipeline itself is a threat to the environment. My adversary claims that this is untrue. I will address some of this in this contention and directly address his remarks in a further round. So why is this pipeline a detriment to the environment?Let us first look purely at the composition of the oil that will run through the Keystone pipeline. According to the Congressional Research Service, most of the oils transported through the Keystone XL have greater quantities of potassium hydroxide, increasing their capacity to erode the surrounding area. The total acidity of this oil is higher than average US oils. The oil also contains more sulfur, often by 1% of total content. The burning of these fuels then has greater impact on pollution emissions than oil produced directly in the United States.We can also not forget the possibility of a spill due to a fracture in the pipeline. Such a tragedy is not uncommon with such pipelines. In 2011, hundreds of gallons of oil spilled into the Yellowstone River due to severe oversight . Furthermore, such a fracture is more likely with the Keystone pipeline due to the higher acidity of the oil itself. The acid can easily corrode the inside of the pipe, weakening the overall structure. This is compounded by fluctuations in pressure in the pipeline. Diluted pipelines generally require the oil to be stored at 1,440 ( this number is debatable and can change slightly but this is the average) psi, but reports on the pipeline estimates have seen figures around 2130 psi. In any case, fluctuating pressure can lead to pipe instability. Not to mention, the average size of these spills is somewhere in the ballpark of around 900 barrels of oil, which can equate to around 38,000 gallons of oil. My adversary my ask how much is this. Mathematically this is around twice the size of a giant pool. http://thinkprogress.org...Contention 2JobsSome people think this pipeline will produce an enormous amount of jobs. This is just all around wrong. It will hardly produce any jobs, and the short term jobs that are available will have little not no effect on the economy at all. How many permanent jobs will this create? 35 jobs are estimated to be created permanently. You did just hear that right, and I will post sources to show it. 35 jobs are an estimate that the government arrived at when asked how many permanent jobs would be created. Granted it is also estimated that around 20,000 jobs will be created temporarily on an 8 month basis, for maybe a two year cycle. These jobs are only available until the construction of the pipeline is built itself. After it is over, we will only be left with around 35-100 jobs as far as overseeing the pipeline. This is not worth the risk and cost of building it. http://thinkprogress.org...http://www.politifact.com...Contention 3Gas emissions and public safety. According to studies it is estimated that around 40,000-50,000 deaths yearly happen due to air pollution. If the keystone pipeline is built, it has to be shown that this number could increase by around another 20 percent. That is needless deaths, and adding more pollution than we already have. Pollution can not be avoided with this pipeline. NRDC.ORG says this in a study that they compelted"In just one key way, over its 50-year life, the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would add up to 1.2 billion metric tons more carbon pollution than if it carried conventional crude. That is more than every car in the United States releases into the air in an entire year."An even greater threat comes from basic biology, and a key component that we all know as H2O. Pure water is safe for human consumption and it is necessary for humans to live, but water used in processing the oil from Keystone can undoubtedly kill. In order to pump the oil out of the ground, oil companies use about three gallons of water to pump out a single gallon of oil. So much water is used, it must be stored in man-made pools which are also known as "trailing ponds". This water is exceedingly polluted with toxins from the oil. Essentially this water eventually trails into local water supplies. Since the Keystone pipeline travels straight through the US, this will affect the water of several states.http://www.nrdc.org...In closingFor the sake of our health, safety, and the future our nation this pipeline should not be approved. It will do nothing but hard the environment, and produce nothing but a limited amount of jobs that will not be worth the cost of creating this pipeline.