The Keystone XL project is a proposed pipeline that would carry crude oil from Alberta to Texas. Critics call it a disaster in waiting ... saying the pipeline would pass through many environmentally sensitive areas, and there's little doubt that at some point, there would be big spill. Proponents say the line would give oil hungry Americans a safer supply of oil. And create a lot of jobs in a time where help wanted signs are desperately needed.

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Today's guest host was Piya Chattopadhyay.

Part One of The Current

Satire

It's Friday, August 26th

Washington estimates the United States budget deficit will hit $1.28 trillion dollars this year.

Currently, the good news is it's 1.28 trillion U.S.

This is The Current.

Keystone XL Pipeline - Terry Cunha

The protesters being arrested daily outside the White House have picked a mighty big fight. They're opposing the proposed Keystone XL project ... a monumental, 25 hundred kilometre oil pipeline stretching from pine tree to palm tree and capable of moving close to a million barrels of oil a day from Alberta to Texas.

Some say building the pipeline will create as many as 100 thousand jobs -- 20 thousand of those in Canada. But protesters worry about environmental catastrophe. While they have some powerful US Senators and Congressmen standing along with them, they're not getting much support from the U.S. State Department.

The Washington Post reports an environmental assessment may be released as early as today suggesting the pipeline will have "limited adverse impact." The project must still be approved by the U.S. President. But with a nation starved for work and a positive environmental assessment -- Barack Obama has compelling reasons to agree. Still, protesters from as far away as Toronto hope he'll be convinced by their arguments. We heard from Canadian protester Patricia Warwick.  

Terry Cunha is a spokesperson for TransCanada, the company behind the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline project. He was in Calgary.

Keystone XL Pipeline

Bill McKibben is one of the people organizing the protests against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. He's an environmentalist and author, as well as the founder of 350.org. He was arrested earlier this week outside the White House then. He was in Washington, D.C.

Related Links:

• TransCanada Launches Binding Open Season for Keystone Pipeline System Extension to Houston
• Keystone Pipeline Project - TransCanda
• TransCanada: Oklahoma's Governor and U.S. Senators Urge Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to Approve Keystone XL
• What's All the Fuss About the Keystone XL Pipeline? By Kate Sheppard - Mother Jones Magazine
• Tar Sands and the Carbon Numbers - NY Times
• Canada-to-Texas pipeline seen as getting closer By Juliet Eilperin - Washington Post 

Other segment from today's show:

• In Praise of the Middle Child