Pass the Pipeline!!

September 11, 2001: A day that cannot be erased from the biography of United States history. Almost 3,000 lives were lost that day. People, like you and me, went to work and never made it home. Families, friends, and all of the other lives touched by the nearly 3,000 men and women that perished were forever tainted. 

A young kindergartener at the time, I spent that ominous Tuesday afternoon beside my mom, her eyes glued to the television in an attempt to trace my dad’s whereabouts.  My dad, a Wall Street stockbroker, was just minutes away from the site of incomprehensible devastation that engulfed the World Trade Center - making his fate entirely unbeknownst to us.  I inquired desperately about what happened, grappling to wrap my 5-year-old mind around what a “terrorist attack” was as I watched my mom in hysterics. Hours that seemed to span whole days passed until we heard the familiar sound of footsteps ascending the garage stairs. My mom darted to the door and swung it open to reveal my dad on the other side, covered from head to toe in soot and debris.

My dad made it home that day, but thousands upon thousands of others did not have the same luck.

Though our relationship to the Middle East is far more complex than what I can boil down in a few sentences, an indirect factor contributing to the 9/11 attacks stems from the production and sale of oil.

After the Gulf War of the 1990s, President George H.W. Bush ordered troops to remain stationed in Saudi Arabia.  On the surface, Bush’s command was initiated to preclude further military engagement, but, in reality, motivation for stationing troops was rooted in the desire to secure our oil interests. Ultimately, Bush’s call to station troops in Iraq infuriated prominent leaders like Osama bin Laden, propelling him to create Al Qaeda, specifically designed to meddle with US interests in the Middle East and at home.

If Al Qaeda was formed as a result of our underlying oil interests and Al Qaeda has been deemed responsible for 9/11, why are we continuing to import oil from the Middle East in such large quantities? Also worthy of note, ISIS, an emerging terrorist group that splintered off of Al Qaeda in Iraq, funds their attacks predominantly through the sale of oil.  To reiterate, ISIS, a group that tortures children, broadcasts the gruesome murders of innocent hostages over social media, and pillages cities in an effort to usurp power, is driven by funds from the sale of oil.  Does the Middle East and the associated powers that be still sound like a worthy business partner?

Currently, the passage of the Keystone “XL” Pipeline, a pipeline transporting oil from Canada to the US, has encountered a lot of opposition from environmentalists who contest that the pipeline facilitates the production of an emissions-intensive oil and destroys too much of the Earth’s natural landscape.

Environmentalists neglect to acknowledge that the Keystone Pipeline already exists, with no reports of lasting damages inflicted by it, and the “XL” is merely a carefully routed addition that includes over 50 safety features. Environmentalists neglect to acknowledge that the “XL” is expected to contribute less than 3% of the US’ total greenhouse gas emissions and that Canadians will continue to look to cash out on this natural resource regardless of whether the “XL” gets approved. With emissions expected to contribute less than 3% of our annual total, it becomes apparent that the “XL” is not the cornerstone to solving climate change. Instead, the threat of climate change should be addressed by states passing the Clean Power Plan, a policy that will limit the most emissive industry in our country, coal-fired power plants, enforcing fuel economy standards authorized by the Clean Air Act, and encouraging reduced consumption on an individual level across the boards.  Further, environmentalists have become complacent and naïve in believing that passage of the pipeline symbolizes the end of our efforts to prevent climate change: can common ground not be achieved by employing renewable energy in the cultivation of the tar sands? And most importantly, environmentalists fail to recognize the symbolic importance of expanding trade with Canada.

Canada has been our strongest ally as we maintain one of the greatest trade relations in the world.  It is time for Secretary John Kerry to honor that relationship and give Canada, a trusted, respectable, and safe ally, the business it deserves.  Research has shown that the “XL” does not pose a formidable threat to the environment; research cannot prove, however, the threat oil tycoons and terrorist groups in the Middle East pose to us. If we step back and take a lesson from history, from the 3,000 lives that perhaps could have been saved had we not fought for our oil interests in the Middle East, an obvious answer presents itself: it is time for Kerry to approve the “XL”.  Approving the “XL” will ultimately amplify our oil trade relations with Canada and serve as a symbolic gesture confirming our severe opposition to Middle Eastern aggression.