Oil Imports to Sky Rocket?
When is the country's oil addiction going to end? Well, if projections are accurate, then the answer is, not anytime soon.
The United States currently imports over half a million barrels a day of bitumen from Canada's oil sands region, according to the Sierra Club. By 2020, that number is set to grow to over 1.5 million barrels -- or nearly 10% of the country's current consumption. The U.S. Energy Information Administration's overall Canadian oil production numbers are in-line with the Sierra Club's projected pace.
The big question mark will be regarding tar sands from Canada. Big Oil is trying to use the old-fashioned method of pipes to move tar sands through the U.S. that's "15 to 20 times more acidic" and more corrosive than regular oil. Read the rest of the article here.
The Sierra Club, along with other environmental groups, recently put out a report showing that pipelines in Alberta, where bitumen is commonly transported, had 16 times the number of leaks than pipelines in the United States, which generally don't carry it.
(h/t skeptical science.)
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-- Brian Foley
