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Cost Benefit Analysis: Keystone XL Pipeline Project

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A cost benefit analysis (CBA) is a tool in use by businesses to essentially determine a projects viability (Investopedia, n.d.). Typically, the CBA tool compares a project’s benefits to its costs, which can be a quantitative or qualitative comparison (Investopedia, n.d.). In addition, CBA will include opportunity costs of the various options in the analysis. Since opportunity costs are the value or benefit that one must sacrifice in order to obtain benefits from another alternative (Business Dictionary, n.d.). To illustrate, a CBA can help when deciding to build a manufacturing plant, by accounting for annual profits, annual expenses, construction expenses, product demand, and other important aspects. Opportunity costs will be evident when considering to build the plant in a busy city or on the edge of a city, as there may be advantages between the two. Such as cheaper shipping costs, versus a cheaper land purchase between the former and the latter. Although CBA’s are a valuable tool, they are more …show more content…

Thus, in order to determine the viability of their Keystone XL pipeline project, TransCanada put cost benefit analysis to use. Essentially, the Keystone XL pipeline is an addition to the original Keystone pipeline, which currently transports oil to the Gulf Coast refineries (Koenig, 2017). However, the Keystone XL addition intends to carry 830,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to a connection on the original Keystone in Nebraska (Koenig, 2017). Therefore, the Keystone XL project involves both the Canadian and American economy, in which both countries expect to reap the benefits. Thus, the importance for a proper cost benefit analysis on the project is evident, in order to gain the appropriate amount of support from all of the

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The Keystone Pipeline is a series of metal pipes that run from Alberta Canada to Patoka, Illinois and Port Arthur, Texas. The pipes pass through North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. The current Keystone Pipeline transports approximately 700,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada to Texas. (n.d.) The Keystone XL Pipeline is a proposed 1,700 mile expansion to the current pipeline, which would branch west, impacting an additional state, Montana, and end in Cushing Oklahoma.

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Controversy Surrounding the Keystone XL Pipeline To build or not to build, this choice will impact the relationship between the US and Canada and determine the level of dependence the US will have on countries that are not so friendly. “TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL Pipeline would transport oil sands crude from Canada and shale oil produced in North Dakota and Montana to a market hub in Nebraska for delivery to Gulf Coast refineries. The pipeline would consist of 875 miles of 36-inch pipe with the capacity to transport 830,000 barrels per day” (Parfomak, Pirog, Luther and Vann 4). The construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline would strengthen the United States economy, provide energy security and have minimal environmental impact. “The Keystone XL project would create $1.1 trillion in private capital investment at no

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First, there is often a misunderstanding of what crude oil is used for, “Crude oil is not exclusively used to produce gasoline. Crude oil is used to produce thousands of products that we use every day, not just gasoline and diesel. Crude oil feedstock is used to create the plastics that encase our cell phones and televisions, asphalt for our roads and even the latex gloves doctors use when delivering a baby. ”(Myths & Facts-TC) One of the production company’s executives criticized the misinformed by saying, “The people suggesting that the oil Keystone XL will transport will be used to exclusively to make gasoline or diesel is simply a guess and they know that.”

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The Keystone XL Pipeline Annotated Bibliography Biello, David. “Green Goo.” Scientific American. Jul. 2013. Vol.

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The toxic chemicals released from extraction were poisoning clean water sources. This lead to increasing cases of cancer, hyperthyroidism, lupus, and renal failure in people located in areas near the present pipeline. These effects clearly show the vast hazard this oil presents for the environment and society. In conclusion, as stated and proven throughout this essay, the Keystone pipeline creates many environmental issues.

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The Dakota Access Pipeline has been a very controversial subject, it makes you truly think what would be best for most people in the situation. Like every story, there are two sides, and what one finds right or wrong is up to them. Here is exactly what the Dakota Access Pipeline is, and the pros, and cons. The Dakota Pipeline is a giant project that will run an oil pipe from North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois that's around 1,000 miles of 30-inch pipes.

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Within recent months, the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline has gained enough national attention to divide the country. Many Americans believe it would be a good investment that could bring a galore of oil, money, and jobs for the country, boosting the economy and having lasting positive effects on Americans. However, others argue that the pipeline would bring harm to the Native American culture and the environment. Nevertheless, the surrounding area of the 1,170 mile pipeline would be affected by this pipeline. The Dakota Access Pipeline puts habitats, animals, and hundreds of thousands of lives and the culture of these lives at risk of being tarnished.

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The Dakota Access pipeline is one of the biggest controversial topics in the United States today. This newly constructed project costed $3.7 billion dollars. The pipelines purpose is to make an easier way to transport crude oil across four states. Starting in North Dakota and ending in Illinois, the pipeline is a 1,172 mile long project with the potential to produce 470,000 barrels of oil daily. With the pipeline ending in Illinois, it also makes it very simple to transport the oil across the Midwest, East Coast, and Gulf Coast.

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In recent years in can be noted that civil disobedience is prominent in American culture. This can be portrayed in the recent events of the Keystone Pipeline activists. Many activists have blamed the government for their problems just as Thoreau did in his essay “Civil Disobedience”. There can be a parallel drawn between these two topics even though they have decades between them. In these times it is still logical to believe that civil disobedience is the right course of action.

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The Dakota Access Pipeline has been a Hot topic for about the past year. It sparked attention with the public because of the unethical practices that were being used to construct the pipeline. Many people were upset with how the government decided to handle the issue. With that being said, many protests had broken out over the past several months. Those who supported pipeline argued it would be better the American People and economy.

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The Keystone Pipeline is a controversial issue. Some believe that the ‘cons’ outweigh the ‘pros’ and others believe the opposite. What good can come from the pipeline? If the pipeline is not approved then we will be forced to transport petroleum by trains and ships. This is said not to be efficient because trains are in risk of getting into an accident and ships will pollute our waters and can possibly spill oil (Goldberg,2015).

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The environmental argument is coming from a clash over the fact they are basically stripping the canadian boreal forest, the path of the pipeline extends across major aquifers, and pipelines tend to leak and destroy surrounding environments. In addition ccording to The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions State, “epartment’s draft SEIS found that oil from the Canadian oil sands is 17 percent more carbon-intensive than the average oil consumed in the United States... It is estimated that the U.S. greenhouse gas footprint would increase by 3 million to 21 million metric tons per year, or around 0.04 percent to 0.3 percent of the 2010 levels, if Keystone is built. Fortunately on November 6, 2015, President Barack Obama’s administration rejected the Keystone Pipeline XL after 7 years of dispute. As mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, Obama stated “the project would not have lowered gas prices, improved energy security or made a meaningful long-term contribution to the economy

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The Dakota Access pipeline project is starting from Stanley, North Dakota to Illinois. This project announced in 2014 and the plan is to move oil across four states. The project was finished on January 7, 2017. Some people think that it is very helpful and healthy but others think that shouldn’t. The people who against the project to sue this project and it has been delayed.

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“Benefits of Governmental Compromise Regarding the Dakota Access Pipeline” Nations all have unique governments and differences necessary for demonstrating successful leadership. Every country needs different assistance from their leadership, such as Rio requiring infrastructure or Somalia lacking political power. Some governments concern themselves with their politicians’ well-being more so than the people they lead, which creates a relevant problem in America. The United States Government can easily forget about Native American Reservations, or even ignore the people living on them. Recently, the United States Army Corps of Engineers has worked on the Dakota Access Pipeline project, which would cross over Native American ancestral lands,

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Since its construction in 1977, the Trans Alaska Pipeline has transported almost 17 billion barrels of oil, and currently transports about 527,323 barrels a day. It celebrated its 40th Anniversary last year, and, even after all this time, is still facing controversy. The pipeline is highly debated as economically inclined citizens of Alaska are clashing with more environmental types. The Trans Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act, signed by President Nixon in 1973, protected the pipeline by banning all legal challenges against the construction of the pipeline. However, this law did not stop the critics of the pipeline from speaking out.

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