President Obama gave his official approval of building the southern portion of the Keystone XL pipeline this Monday, Feb. 27. The decision is justified by the White House as a necessary step towards eliminating the oil “glut” in Oklahoma.

Currently, domestic oil produced in the Midwest is transported to and stored in  Cushing, Oklahoma. This vast supply of oil is refined and sold within the United States.

So, why is this so-called “glut” a problem? Isn’t a vast supply of domestic oil a good thing?

The issue with the “glut”, according to oil companies and Conservatives, is the lack of a transportation pipeline connecting the large Oklahoma supply to the Texas refineries. These refineries produce oil for exportation. Since oil companies are increasingly looking to export, the lack of a pipeline is a huge conundrum for Big Oil.

Exportation is a lucrative business prospect for American oil companies. Since there is a higher willingness to pay abroad than at home, oil corporations will export even if it means a negative externality on domestic consumers (i.e. greater American reliance on foreign oil, increasing gas prices, and environmental and human health degradation). Big Oil is, after all, a profit maximizing entity.

Obama’s approval of the southern segment of the proposed pipeline will connect the large domestic supply of oil in Oklahoma with the exportation refineries in Texas. This gives oil companies and their Republican beneficiaries what they want and ignores the momentous adverse ecological and societal impacts of the pipeline that environmentalists and humanitarians are protesting.

And yet, oil corporations and Conservatives continue to complain despite this substantial victory. They have made it clear that they will not be satisfied until the full pipeline cutting across the continental United States from Canada to Texas is approved.

Republicans are ignoring the minimal benefits and substantial costs of the pipeline. If the full pipeline is built, Canadian oil corporations will accumulate vast profits without the stress from political debates or harmful effects of pollution and spills. Additionally, the international market will benefit from a greater supply of oil while our domestic market will continue to face shortages and rising gas prices. Canadian oil companies and international buyers will enjoy all of the gains as their American counterparts stumble along incurring considerable costs to their environment, society, and economy.

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