Obama's Keystone decision does nothing for environment

When he made the only official Alaska visit of his presidency this summer, President Obama tried to portray himself as a man determined to do something about climate change. Last week, he did the same thing.

Unfortunately for the president, looking like you’re doing something, and actually doing it, are very different things.

When Obama nixed a proposed pipeline from Canada through the U.S., he cited climate change as a primary reason why the Keystone XL project should be stopped. But there’s no logic to support that line of thought because preventing oil companies from building pipelines doesn’t keep anyone from burning oil.

The oil being produced in Canada is going to be dug out of the ground no matter what. That means it must find its way to market somehow. Currently, that’s done mostly by putting the oil on trains — one of the most dangerous ways to ship combustible materials, because trains are prone to derailment. In 2013, 47 people were killed in a small Quebec town when one such train derailed. Other disasters have forced entire towns to evacuate.

Environmentalists have argued that in order to curb climate change, the world must end its oil addiction. That’s all well and good. But forcing oil producers to use more dangerous methods of getting their product to market won’t do that. The only way to keep that oil in the ground is for consumers to use less of it, which means reducing demand and creating markets for cheap alternative sources of power.

Opponents of the pipeline have also argued that it would pose an environmental risk were it to rupture or be attacked. They neglect to recognize that while oil pipelines do rupture — a rarity for a project of this magnitude — the impact to the environment is relatively minor and can usually be confined to the immediate area. Compare that to the environmental damage caused when a rail car full of crude catches on fire, as happened earlier this year when a train carrying North Dakota crude derailed, burst into flame and dumped oil into Virginia’s James River.

As for attacks, well, terrorists would get a lot more bang for their buck by attacking a train in the middle of some unsuspecting American town.

The Keystone pipeline would have created thousands of jobs and helped stimulate economies in rural areas. It would have moved thousands of barrels of oil safely and efficiently, greatly reducing the need to use dangerous and inefficient rail transportation. It would not have increased demand for oil.

Obama’s decision was done for purely political reasons. His portrayal of himself as a man fighting climate change is as phony as the camping trip he took for a TV show while hiking a mile from civilization near Seward. Stopping Keystone will do nothing for the climate and could very well result in greater damage to humans and the environment; its denial is as misguided as the arguments of those who say climate change isn’t happening at all.