Alexander Pourbaix
Alexander J. Pourbaix is a key stakeholder on the topic of the Keystone XL pipeline project. Pourbaix is the Executive Vice President and President, Development at TransCanada. He is responsible for leading and executing on TransCanada’s growth initiatives like the Keystone Pipeline. Alexander believes, as he wrote in an article to CNN, that the “Keystone XL pipeline makes sense” (Pourbaix). Pourbaix is a supporter of the pipeline for many reasons. In his article he counters the claims of environmentalists who claim the pipeline is harmful to the environment and not safe. There have been significant research studies done on the Keystone pipeline, Pourbaix explains in his piece “The State Department's final supplemental environmental impact statement is a culmination of more than five years and contains 20,000 pages of analysis, with input from more than two dozen state and federal agencies. The environmental and market issues have been exhaustively reviewed and concerns debunked” (Pourbaix). With this evidence Alexander finds it hard to believe there are still concerns regarding the pipeline. He continues to disagree with environmentalists as he explains that Canada only emits 2% of global greenhouse gasses, out of that 2% the emissions from the oil sands only contribute 0.16% of the total. For comparison, Pourbaix points out that just three coal-fired power plants in the United States produce more greenhouse gases than the entire oil sands industry. Pourbaix, along with other supporters of the pipeline believe that building the Keystone XL pipeline is the most responsible thing to do at this point in time. Currently TransCanada is investing billions of dollars into renewable energy such as wind, solar, hydro and nuclear power. Supporters like Pourbaix, believe the pipeline is the best way to transition to greener energy sources since we know the switch to greener energy cannot happen overnight. During the transition the United States would be able to feel confident in their trusted ally Canada.
Top image taken from:
http://scaredmonkeys.com/category/energy/keystone-xl-pipeline/
Top image taken from:
http://scaredmonkeys.com/category/energy/keystone-xl-pipeline/