At the remote border crossing north of here, two stern U.S. border
guards emerged from their spanking new post to check passports. There
wasn’t another person or car in sight. An uninterrupted sea of prairie
stretched in every direction.
On the Canadian side, the nearest town is Val Marie, the entrance to Grasslands National Park and home to 137 people. On the U.S. side, it’s Loring, population nine — not counting the dog called mayor.
“The border is 16 miles away, and in between, there are 4,000 Angus cattle and 3,000 acres of farmland and that’s about it,” said Kenny Clark, a mechanic and oil worker who lives in Loring with his wife, two children and parents.
Soon, there might be one more thing: TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline. The company wants to run its controversial new pipeline not far from this outpost.
In its May 4 application to the U.S. State Department for a permit to cross an international boundary, TransCanada said it would run a 1.2-mile segment of steel pipe into Phillips County, Mont., traversing the first 0.93 mile on Bureau of Land Management land and the next 0.27 mile on state land.
If the U.S. government gives TransCanada the go ahead, the Keystone XL pipeline will give another boost to U.S.-Canada trade relations. Canada — not China — is the largest U.S. trading partner. And oil and gas accounted for more than a third of the $316.5 billion of U.S. imports from Canada in 2011.
The oil in TransCanada’s existing Keystone and proposed Keystone XL lines alone could outstrip the value of all U.S. imports from Brazil and, depending on the price, roughly equal those from France or Taiwan.
The United States is a natural destination for that oil. “The best market is the one right next to us demanding 10 million barrels of oil every day,” TransCanada chief executive Russ Girling said. “It makes no sense having tankers moving to the U.S. from Europe and the Middle East and tankers going to Asia from America.”
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/keystone-xl-pipeline-creates-sticking-point-in-us-canada-trade-relations/2012/07/06/gJQAxcrtRW_print.html
On the Canadian side, the nearest town is Val Marie, the entrance to Grasslands National Park and home to 137 people. On the U.S. side, it’s Loring, population nine — not counting the dog called mayor.
“The border is 16 miles away, and in between, there are 4,000 Angus cattle and 3,000 acres of farmland and that’s about it,” said Kenny Clark, a mechanic and oil worker who lives in Loring with his wife, two children and parents.
Soon, there might be one more thing: TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline. The company wants to run its controversial new pipeline not far from this outpost.
In its May 4 application to the U.S. State Department for a permit to cross an international boundary, TransCanada said it would run a 1.2-mile segment of steel pipe into Phillips County, Mont., traversing the first 0.93 mile on Bureau of Land Management land and the next 0.27 mile on state land.
If the U.S. government gives TransCanada the go ahead, the Keystone XL pipeline will give another boost to U.S.-Canada trade relations. Canada — not China — is the largest U.S. trading partner. And oil and gas accounted for more than a third of the $316.5 billion of U.S. imports from Canada in 2011.
The oil in TransCanada’s existing Keystone and proposed Keystone XL lines alone could outstrip the value of all U.S. imports from Brazil and, depending on the price, roughly equal those from France or Taiwan.
The United States is a natural destination for that oil. “The best market is the one right next to us demanding 10 million barrels of oil every day,” TransCanada chief executive Russ Girling said. “It makes no sense having tankers moving to the U.S. from Europe and the Middle East and tankers going to Asia from America.”
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/keystone-xl-pipeline-creates-sticking-point-in-us-canada-trade-relations/2012/07/06/gJQAxcrtRW_print.html
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