Keystone XL Pipeline. Friend Or Foe?

       Why is it that we still keep hearing about the Keystone XL Pipeline? Big money keeps pushing to get this big money maker built so they can make even more big money. But what's in it for the average citizen of America? Well, there's a lot in it for Americans. For starters there's some new jobs. Not very many, but some. Then there's all that oil.
       But there are some disadvantages as well. So the question is whether there are more or fewer advantages with the pipeline as opposed to no pipeline. Some of the disadvantages start with the oil itself. Actually it's something of a misnomer to call it oil. It's actually tar, with a lot of sand in it. To refine it, you have to remove the sand and all the rest that isn't actually oil.
       After it's refined you have two products. You have oil. But the oil is still not comparable to what they call "light sweet." It's still a lot dirtier. The other product is the"coke" left over. You can build mountains of this toxic waste. Coke can no longer be burned to make steel or any other product because of it's polluting nature. It's toxic, toxic, toxic. So what would we do with this poison? Bury it? Where?' Perhaps you'd be willing to dig a big hole in your backyard for some? I know the Koch brothers don't want any of it.
       Then there's that, so called, finished, refined oil. What happens to that? Word has it that it will all or nearly all be shipped outside of America. Of course we could demand it be saved for only Americans. It could, but it hasn't been set aside for us. That would be against the best interests of the wealthy benefactors of Congress.
       So let's fast forward to a possible future, some ten years from now with an XL pipeline in full production. Today's news tells of a leak in the pipeline, but it's a slow leak because the tar is so thick. Meanwhile,  near a small Texas town, Mount Coke continues to rise and is now the second highest mountain in North America. Every time it rains in that area, the runoff from Mt. Coke turns all the local streams black and the drinking water is determined to be toxic. So everybody has to import bottled water from Canada. And there are more two headed critters running around Southeast Texas then anywhere in the world.