We opened the class by talking about the Keystone XL pipeline, and a milestone was reached in the government's examination of that proposed project on Friday when the State department issued a report. Contrary to what I said in class, the report concludes that the pipeline will not affect how much oil is extracted from tar sands in Alberta.
If that's the case, then I personally don't see any reason to stop it. As you read in the article I handed out on the first day, the fight against the Keystone has been a boon to the environmental movement as people join up against the pipeline, for reasons logical or illogical. As an economist it seems to me that there are better ways people could use their energy to improve the environment (such as fighting for appropriate taxes and/ or cap and trade on industry emissions). Obviously I'm not a politician!
