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    Crafting U.S. energy policy via Canada. Author leans toward Keystone approval
  • 10May

    Crafting U.S. energy policy via Canada.Author leans toward Keystone approval

    Michael Levi tried his best to keep his latest book focused on the future of U.S. energy and not delve deeply into Canadian projects. It was not to be, and he ended up writing an entire chapter on the U.S. environmental movement's claims on TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline and the oil sands.
    Energy decisions taken north of its border cast a huge shadow on the United States and highlight the confusion in the debate surrounding U.S. energy policy, says the director of the program on energy security and climate change at the Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S. think-tank with offices in Washington, D.C, and New York.
    "It's peculiar that the American energy debate is being conducted through a focus on Canadian oil development," Mr. Levi said in a phone interview from New York. "It is hard to believe that you don't end up with a muddled outcome when you try to make American energy policy by debating different ways to influence Canada."
    Mr. Levi's book The Power Surge: Energy, Opportunity, and the Battle for America's Future, published last week, charts the new energy transformation taking place in the country and how it has propelled climate change issues to the fore. The battle between the oil industry and environmentalists has been ongoing for decades, but Mr. Levi is perplexed that the two sides can't find a way to talk to each other.
    "The stark contrast between producing more oil and boosting renewables is supposedly inviolable. But we can pursue a most-of-the-above strategy that takes advantage of opportunities on all fronts."
    Mr. Levi valiantly tries to sympathize with both the proponents of climate change and the oil industry, but also criticizes them for exaggerating the impact of infrastructure projects.
    While he is at pains to stick to policy issues and not be drawn into a discussion on individual projects such as Keystone, he does lean toward the pipeline's approval.
    "Denying a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline would not be the unmitigated disaster that some claim - and allowing the pipeline to proceed would not be the climate catastrophe that many have asserted," Mr. Levi told the U.S. Congress during his testimony in March. "Ultimately, though, allowing the pipeline to proceed would likely produce benefits that outweigh the associated costs."
    Mr. Levi's views mirror those of the people he met across the country during his research for the book.
    "Americans bring fewer preconceptions on the table and are less polarized over energy than their representatives in Washington," Mr. Levi said.
    "Most people are pretty pragmatic, but they get a steady diet of misinformation from all sides of the energy debate that say to them, 'You have to pick one side or the other decisively.'"
    In the book he cites Atul Kapadia, the chief executive of an electric-car battery manufacturer doesn't think it's ironic that he takes great pride in his natural gas-fuelled vehicle.
    Meanwhile, green energy entrepreneurs Kert Zenz House and Justin Dawe are curbing greenhouse gas by capturing carbon emissions from fossil-fuelled power plants and using them to produce oil.
    But environmentalists are "justifiably frustrated" that the U.S. government has been unable to craft a comprehensive policy to tackle climate change.
    "People are not able to pass laws through Congress so they try to use existing laws and that's what we see in the Keystone XL fight," Mr. Levi said. "They have become convinced that you can't just talk theory, you need to mobilize people and get them excited, and concrete targets like the pipeline appear to do that."
    The book also tries to bust a few myths on both sides. Most notable is the chapter titled Game Over - a nod to former-NASA scientist James Hansen's now-famous quote that the Keystone XL pipeline approval will effectively be "game over" for the planet.
    Prof. Hansen also claims that carbon dioxide levels past 350 parts per million would lead to great climatic upheavals, which Mr Levi says is based on "weak scientific footing" that has not been reinforced by other researchers.
    The oil industry also comes in for criticism for its over-the-top claims. If Canadian oil is shipped to China instead of the U.S., it would still boost global inventory levels, and rein in prices for everyone, including U.S. consumers.
    Meanwhile, homegrown U.S. production and exports from friendly Alberta would still not spare Americans from a price spike if events in the Middle East take a turn for the worse.
    Still, Keystone has morphed into a bigger battle and President Barack Obama faces a monumental decision regarding the controversial pipeline.
    "I would not rule any possibility out," Mr. Levi said. "But for the U.S. to say 'We are not going to allow the construction of additional pipelines from Canada to the United States,' will be a big and highly consequential decision."

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