Tim kaine
Tim Kaine, the freshman senator from Virginia, opposes the Keystone XL pipeline project. As a senator with environmental concerns over global warming, Kaine is proponent of using technology to create cleaner, greener forms of energy. On Kaine’s political homepage he explains his position on the environment stating, “In the Senate, I will continue my efforts to protect our air, water and land resources, and will resist efforts to weaken environmental standards that are critical to public health” (Environment). Senator Kaine is not against the pipeline itself, but the tar sands oil being carried in it. In an opinion piece to the Washington Post he expresses “…I think it makes no sense to be anti-pipeline” (Kaine). He continues his article explaining how tar sands oil is dirtier than conventional oil. In fact, Kaine states that tar sands oil can be 15 to 20 percent dirtier, with a process that makes refining more difficult and resource-intensive. Along with other environmentalists, Kaine is concerned that completing the pipeline would send the message to industry to expand the development of tar sands oil. The concern with expansion of the use of bitumen oil, is that it would raise greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental groups such as The National Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club and others agree with this concern. These groups hold that “over its entire life cycle the synthetic crude oil from tar sands emits at least 20 percent more global warming pollution than conventional oil”. They claim that because tar sands oil is heavier crude, it will lead to producing more pollutants, which in turn will create more risk to our nation’s health (Weeks, 556-557). Kaine states in his article that, as a country, we have reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 9 percent since 2005 (Kaine). Kaine argues that completing the pipeline and using tar sands oil would be a step backwards for the United States given the progress that has been made toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Overall, Tim Kaine is against the completion of the pipeline because he is opposed to expanding the development and use of tar sands oil.
Top image taken from:
http://inhabitat.com/alex-macleans-aerial-images-of-tar-sands-reveal-shocking-details-about-keystone-xl-source/
Second image taken from:
http://www.kaine.senate.gov/
Source not linked:
Weeks, Jennifer. "U.S. Oil Dependence." CQ Researcher 22 June 2012: 549-72. Web. 9 Nov. 2014.