Pros And Cons Of The Keystone XL Pipeline

Now that it is clear what the Keystone XL pipeline is and why people want it, I will argue that the XL pipeline is unethical. Before making an argument it is important to understand what moral behavior is and to be able to recognize it. The Summa Theologica written by Thomas Aquinas can help one understand and recognize moral behavior. According to Aquinas, there are four types of law. The first is eternal law, which consists of God’s governed guidelines. The second is natural law, which is how we participate in eternal law using reason. There are many precepts in Natural Law, but they all are based on doing good and shunning evil. Good human laws allow us to make it easier to do good and shun evil. Finally, divine law is the fourth law that

However, landowners that are in this situation are being forced to sell rights to parts of their land regardless. Eminent domain is a process that allows the government to force citizens to sell their property for “public use.” Eminent Domain is used for projects for the common good, but the many people affected by XL believe it will not benefit the common good. Residents in Nebraska have been fighting the use of eminent domain. A rancher in South Dakota suggested that TransCanada’s claim that 88 percent of landowners voluntarily agreeing to easement is high because many of them feared that their land would eventually be taken by eminent domain (Israel &

However, it is important to note that there would only be 35 permanent jobs (Walker). Thus, it seems that benefits are primarily short-term, while the costs are longer lasting. The short-term benefits could be completely overshadowed by the long-term costs. For example, James Hansen believes that if the U.S. continues to burns its own fossil fuels and fully exploits the tar sands in Canada it would terrible news for the climate. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could reach higher levels than an era more than 2.5 million years ago (i.e. Pliocene era), when the sea level was greater than 50 feet higher than it is now. An increase in the climate could offset any economic benefits that supporters discuss. Over the next several decades’ parts of the U.S. could become semi-permanent drought, with rain that occurs alongside extreme events with heavy floods according to Hansen. These conditions would make farming extremely difficult resulting in food prices skyrocketing. If Hansen’s predictions are true then this could result in a loss of a great amount of jobs and could create more economic losses than what will be gained