President Obama is catching a lot of flak because of the State Department's decision to delay expansion of the
Keystone XL Pipeline through Nebraska on to established refineries Houston and Port Arthur, Texas.
Politicos in Texas are upset because they see the delay as delaying job opportunities for their state. Others see this as a political ploy by Illinois politicians because the expanded pipleline could allow TransCanada to bypass the Wood River Refinery and a storage site at Patoka - which are just outside of St. Louis in Illinois. Others fear the refined oil in Texas would be shipped to China and other countries. A lot of these concerns were sparked by an
editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
FYI:
The Wood River Refinery is now the 6th largest refinery in the United States. It is the ConocoPhillips' largest refinery. The original Keystone Pipeline started pumping crude into the Wood River Refinery in June of 2010. ConocoPhillips recently completed a $3-billion expansion of the refinery.
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Editorial: Reconsidering the tar sands oil pipeline makes sense for U.S.
By the Editorial Board STLtoday.com | Posted: Tuesday, November 15, 2011 12:00 am
The U.S. State Department last week put off for at least a year a decision on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline proposal. The decision had been expected by the end of 2011 but now seems unlikely before early in 2013.
A delay makes sense. Too many disturbing issues continue to swirl around the application by the TransCanada corporation to add 1,600 miles to its existing Keystone 1 pipeline network for Canadian tar sands crude oil.
The XL expansion would allow the company to pump its heated slurry of sludge-like crude oil and solvent from storage sites near Calgary, Alberta, to refining facilities near Houston and Port Arthur, Texas. From those port cities, the Canadian company easily could ship its products to customers overseas.
An existing branch of the 2,151-mile Keystone 1 pipeline crosses northern Missouri and tunnels under the Mississippi River in St. Charles County. It surfaces in Illinois, delivering crude to the Wood River Refinery at Roxana and a storage site at Patoka. The XL expansion would allow TransCanada to bypass the Illinois facilities.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
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Below is an aerial of the Wood River Refinery about 15 miles from downtown St. Louis.
Below is a map of the current Keystone Pipeline and the expansion plans.
