I am wondering if the drop in crude oil prices will render this pipeline moot.   We awash in cheaper and cheaper oil, and the tar sand oil that is produced up in Canada and would be carried by that pipeline costs some say $65 to $75 per barrel to produce, some say as high as $85 to $110..  Right now oil prices are trending down in the mid $70s, and some people have predicted it will continue to drop. 

 

This article from USA Today seems somewhat balanced in the issue: 

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/busi.../18994601/

 

This article thinks "economics no longer make Keystone viable."

 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/e...ar-BBdw1uK 

 

"The so-called "heavy oil" extracted from sand in Alberta, which the proposed pipeline would carry to Nebraska, en route to refineries on the Gulf Coast, will cost between $85 and $110 to produce, depending on which drilling technology is used, according to a report in July by the Canadian Energy Research Institute, a nonprofit whose work is often cited by Keystone proponents. West Texas Intermediate crude oil traded today at $76.67."

 

And here's a pretty balanced (in my opinion) article from Forbes. 

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/markhendrick...-pipeline/

 

The author thinks the President should approve the project, but he also goes on to say,

 

"...as of today and for at least the near future, the ongoing fall in oil prices has to be a major concern to Canadian tar sands producers. At what price point will lower oil prices force them to cut back on production? Given the possibility that producing oil from tar sands may become uneconomical, would building the Keystone XL pipeline through the American heartland still make sense for American companies and investors?"

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