This year there has been a lot of controversy about one hot topic in America. No, it is not abortion, not planned parenthood, and it is not our presidential election outcome per say. The hot topic is black gold, also known as oil. Not just any oil, but “tar sand” oil being pumped through the Keystone Pipeline XL (Phase 4). You might be thinking what is the big deal? We use oil every day… Well many individuals are not happy about this movement to construct a bigger and more efficient pipeline across several states. Even though what is proposed is building phase 4. That’s right, phase 1-3 have already been completed and being used. So, what is the big deal about building this bigger and better fourth phase? Is it the money being used? Is it…show more content… Again, it is important to know that this is not just any regular oil. This is tar sand oil which is substantially more difficult to clean; the oil is highly corrosive and sinks in water instead of floating. On top of that the pipeline is being built in a rather seismic active zone. There is fear of the corrosive property and the Constant shifting of the seismic plates could possibly cause the pipeline to rupture or fail during operation and go undetected for a period. Another thing people get upset about is “that it will only create temporary jobs and people think the money spent could be used in other…show more content… It is true that tar sand oil is a “dirtier” burning oil, but the United States and many other countries use it currently, and it is not like if we don’t use it no one else will. Canada is the only large scale tar sand oil refining country followed by Venezuela. According to htp://ostseis.anl.gov/guide/tarsands/ Canada is 80% dependent on this oil, and the United States of America is receiving approximately 20% of all crude oil from Canada, and it is expected to grow rapidly, because tar sand oil is the most common source of oil on the planet. It is estimated that an average of 2 trillion barrels of oil still out to be possibly recovered. The downside is that the recovery process is not as clean as the pipeline will be. The extraction process estimates that it takes around 2 tons of sand material to make one single barrel of oil. At the same time, we will not be involved in that process. That will all happen in Canada because we only get it after it is viscous enough to be pumped through a pipe to American
