The Biggest Lie Montana Politicians Are Peddling About The Keystone XL Pipeline

Oh, the lies and the lying liars that tell them.

On Friday, Ryan Zinke, candidate for the Montana House seat being vacated by Steve Daines posted this to his Facebook page.

Mr. President, Montanans have waited long enough for jobs as a result of building the Keystone XL Pipeline. Let’s start to accelerate our economy, end our reliance on foreign oil, and promote energy independence now!

Most Montana statewide politicians have voiced support for the Keystone XL pipeline (except Democrat Dirk Adams) but I’m going to pick on Zinke because he removed my comment on the above Facebook post and then banned me from commenting on his site.

I assume he did that because I mentioned the fact that U.S. is a net exporter of gasoline. Yep, it’s true folks. Energy companies refine oil that we get from abroad and the U.S., turn it into gas and then ship some of it to other countries. It’s not just gasoline. The U.S. exports lots of forms of energy – natural gas, coal, gasoline, biofuels and some crude oil (see chart below from EIA).

Zinke says we must approve the Keystone XL pipeline because it will end our reliance on foreign oil and make America energy independent.

A couple of things to point out.

1. Last time I checked, Mr. Zinke, Canada was not part of the United States, therefore the tar sands are a “foreign oil.” But, whatever, that’s just a small technicality right?

2. The tar sands oil transported from Canada to the Gulf Coast refineries will most likely be exported, not kept in the United States AND it will increase gas prices in the Midwest.

Canadian companies backing the Keystone XL – touted as enhancing US energy security with a big new surge of imported Canadian oil – actually expect it to supply more lucrative Gulf Coast export markets as well as raise Midwest oil prices by reducing “oversupply” in that region.

In 2012 at a Congressional hearing, former Congressman Ed Markey asked Alex Pourbaix, TransCanada’s pipeline CEO if the company would support legislation requiring Canadian oil and refined byproducts to be sold only in the U.S. “so that this country realizes all of the energy security benefits your company and others have promised?” Mr. Poirbaix said, “no, I can’t do that.”

Real Energy Independence

If you are a Montana politician, I’m asking one thing. Be honest about why you support this pipeline and stop lying to Montanans about energy independence. Don’t pretend you can control international energy markets. And don’t pretend that the public’s interest is the same as a massive Canadian energy corporation or that they have our best interest in mind. It’s all bullshit. 

And, maybe, just maybe, find a little political courage to stand up for Montanans real interests instead of a corporations.

Real energy independence and security happens when communities and homes are powered by free energy sources like the sun and the wind in distributed generation. Real energy independence is when the public isn’t spending a huge percentage of their paychecks on gas and electricity and propping up corporation’s profit margins.

The Greater Good

Politicians that support the pipeline want you to believe that this pipeline will fix all of our energy and economic problems. It’s for the greater good! Landowners should sacrifice their property and stand by as a Canadian corporation seizes it through the use of eminent domain. It’s for the greater good! American’s should risk pipeline spills and contaminated aquifers. It’s for the greater good!

I’m pretty sure, the only greater good that will be happening is in the profit margins of TransCanada.