President Trump Issues New Presidential Permit To Expand Capacity Of Keystone Pipeline -- July 30, 2020

Link here.

Trump issued a new presidential permit for the base Keystone line, allowing TC to boost capacity by 170,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 761,000 bpd, TC spokesman Terry Cunha said on Thursday. The first 50,000 bpd increment begins flowing next year.

The additional Canadian crude oil on the line will help meet growing U.S. refinery demand, Chief Executive Russ Girling said on a conference call.

When Trump came to office, he revived TC's proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which has been delayed by opposition from landowners, environmental groups and tribes. It would give Canada expanded access to its top oil market after its existing pipelines ran full in recent years.

The U.S. Supreme Court reinforced this month a lower court ruling that blocked a key environmental permit, blocking substantial U.S. construction.

TC expects Keystone XL to enter service in 2023. Construction is underway in Canada, and TC is working on a revised 2020 U.S. work plan focusing on areas that have all permits and approvals, Girling said.

Much more at the link.

Wow, I Hate Waking Up At 1:00 A.M. To Post This But My iPhone Is Pinging With Alerts -- July 31, 2018

I saw the story earlier today but I'm so tired of the Keystone XL story I did not want another stand-alone post on the subject but something tells me if I don't post this story as a stand-alone, 37 readers are going to write me. So, here it is: the US State Department gives a "positive" environmental impact statement for the Keystone XL's new route through Nebraska.

A reader has also provided an even better article which includes a map of the new route, from the Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal Star (which I bet is owned by Berkshire Hathaway).

Really? This was what the fuss was all about?

The "green" -- mainline alternative -- in the map above s represented by the "rope" in the video below. The individual on the right portrays the Nebraska Supreme Court; and the individual on the left portrays the US State Department:

An Issue of Trust
I posted this story earlier today at a couple of older posts as updates feeling I had done my part at least archiving the story. I felt strongly that the story did not deserve a stand-alone post. I have more important things to do these days. Like check the Dow futures. 

Keystone XL milestones are tagged with this clever tag: Keystone milestones.

I didn't want a stand-alone post on this newest update because it seems we have been here before. My recollection is that under Hillary, the US State Department gave a "positive" report on the original route, but after months of prodding from the mainstream media and the US public (those few who were even interested) Hillary finally flip-flopped (though she claims the flip-flop was not a flip-flop but a nuanced reconsideration or something to that effect) and said she clearly opposed the Keystone XL. At least when she was campaigning in Nebraska and California and New York.

So, here we go again. The US State Department under ... Mr Pompeo (?) ... has signed off on the new route, and now we can expect continued lawsuits, op-ed pieces in The New York Times, fake news on CNN, and waiting with bated breath for the Nebraska Supreme Court to give its opinion which it has promised to do later this year, or if not then, sometime next year (that would be 2019 AD -- at least one reader has asked whether the Keystone XL saga began in BC or AD (BCE or CE).

Back on March 27, 2017 -- yes, more than a year ago, I posted this for the archives.

Trump administration approves federal application for Keystone XL pipeline. It's hard to believe but I had 49 episodes of "As The World Turns" following the Keystone XL story. The 49th episode is at this link.

Wow, this is funny. I put that part about Berkshire Hathaway owning The Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal Star in as tongue-in-cheek. It was a joke. But worried about being accused of fake news, I had my fact checkers look into this.

This is hilarious. The screenshot -- from this link -- otherwise people would think I'm making this up:

Note three items from the screenshot:

• the date: June 26, 2018 -- like less than a month ago
• this is the "top story" for that day in this newspaper
• a picture of the man who says he pays less taxes (on a percentage basis) than his secretary for those who have not seen a picture of him (lately); with Trump's tax reform, my hunch is he pays even less taxes now

But, having said all that, the fact checkers tell me that Berkshire Hathaway does not own the Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal Star. The list of publications owned by Berkshire is at this wiki link. Again, I could be wrong; things change; I miss things. A lot of things.

But deep in the linked story:

Both Lee and BH [Berkshire Hathaway] Media were careful to clarify that this is not a merger or acquisition, and both companies' newspapers will retain local control over their news operations and editorial pages. However, Junck said the agreement does not bar the companies from merging in the future.

Disclaimer: I miss a lot of things.

Tea Leaves Suggest US Crude Oil Inventories Are Rising -- November 14, 2017 -- The Market And Energy Page, T+297

WTI dropped over 2% this morning. Now, trading below $56.

API: weekly US crude oil inventory data out today at 3:30 p.m. Central Time. I use EIA data which comes out on Thursdays; API and EIA data are often quite different.

Keystone XL: for those who still care, Nebraska regulators will announce their decision next week. I have no less than 1,033 stand-alone posts tagged with "Keystone." One of the earliest posts tagged with "Keystone" was dated September 14, 2010, in which the question was asked: will we see 1 million bopd crude oil production in North Dakota by 2020? LOL. I think we hit that milestone in 2014. And unfettered, we would be well past 2 million bopd by now. But I digress. It's been more than seven years since we first started debating the Keystone XL. I've flip-flopped on the issue more than once; with more data, my feelings about the KXL change. Right now, I no longer care. Canadians should care. [Update: November 20, 2017: Nebraska regulators approve 3 - 2 the "concept" that TransCanada can build the Keystone XL pipeline through their state .. but not where the company had planned. Back to square one. Even if TransCanada agrees to the new route, what's not to say that the Nebraska state supreme court won't step in and stop the whole thing? All this "excitement" that the pipeline has been approved is grossly misplaced.]

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Photo Journalism

The Bismarck Tribune has a photo essay on drilling near the national park in southwestern North Dakota (archived in case the link breaks). Three comments:

• look how absolutely "clean" those pads are
• look how incredibly close the oil rigs (and all drilling activity, for that matter) come to the incredibly beautiful and highly traveled Maah Daah Hey Trail (slide #6 or thereabouts) 
• in the last slide, folks from New York can see a photo of a "North Dakota landowner" -- must be a rare breed -- and the encroaching oil activity on the national park

My biggest concern: once these photographs of the natural beauty of North Dakota goes viral, the state will be inundated with out-of-state tourists and assorted other riff-raff looking to experience a time warp:

Riff-Raff and Magenta show Brad and Janet how to do the Time Warp Rocky Horror Picture Show
The last thing North Dakota needs is another replay of the DAPL protest.

Minor Bakken Notes -- March 24, 2017

Whiting's Skaar Federal wells have been added to the "Monster Well" list.

************************************

Four EOG Wells Have Recently Been Fracked

These four EOG wells have been fracked (a fifth in the group was PNC'd); they were DUCs, now back on confidential list:

• 27390, SI/NC --> conf, EOG, Parshall 69-1820H, Parshall; producing as of 1/17; FracFocus, API 33-061-02914: job start date, 10/29/2014; job end date, 12/18/2016; 9.338 million gallons of water; 79% water by mass; 21% sand by mass;
• 27391, SI/NC --> conf, EOG, Parshall 68-1820H, Parshall; producing as of 1/17; FracFocus, API 33-061-02915: job start date, 10/28/2014; job end date, 12/19/2016; 7.371 million gallons of water; 81% water by mass; 19% sand by mass; 
• 28402, SI/NC --> conf, EOG, Parshall 30-1820H, Parshall; API - 33-061-03110; producing as of 1/17;
• 28404, SI/NC --> conf, EOG, Parshall 631-1820H, Parshall; API - 33-061-03112; producing as of 1/17;
• 28402, PNC, API - 33-061-03111 

I am tracking #16971 at this site. 
Location of these wells:

Not news; for the archives. Trump administration approves federal application for Keystone XL pipeline. It's hard to believe but I had 49 episodes of "As The World Turns" following the Keystone XL story. The 49th episode is at this link.

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A Note to the Granddaughters

Wow, talk about trivia. While reading Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization, Richard Miles, c. 2010, I came across an interesting section on Gades (modern Cadiz). Many decades ago, while in the USAF, I spent some time at the naval station at Rota, Spain, across the bay from Cadiz. Very, very good memories. The US Navy treated us incredibly well. In fact, in all my years in the military, it was always the US Navy that treated me the best whenever I visited, even when I was a very, very junior officer.

But I digress.

From the book:

In the late eighth century BC the Tyrians (Phoenicians) set up a colony at Gades (modern Cadiz) ... Gades was not just a one-industry (metallurgy) town: it would also become famous for its garum, a strong-tasting sauce made out of decomposing mackerel mixed with vinegar, considered to be a great delicacy in the ancient world.

Then later in the book, in a section about Kerkouane, Kerkouanew as another ancient city located near Carthage, but it was destroyed and buried a long, long time ago. The author again brings up garum: the main industries of this settlement (Kerkouane) seem to have been salt-making, the manufacture of purple dye (many murex shells have been found on the site), and the production of garum.

And then again, in a discussion about western Morocco: an area particularly abundant in sea life and therefore a good place for the establishment of factories producing purple dye, salted fish and garum.

I knew I had recently seen "garum" before but I wracked my brain, trying to think where that was. Then when discussing this with Arianna last night, I remembered. I first heard of garum a few weeks ago while reading about the history of salt (notes at this post). Notes from chapter 4 of that book on the history of salt:

• Chapter Four: Salt's Salad Days 
• Romans 
• most Italian cities were founded proximate to saltworks 
• the Phoenicians (again); Sicilians; olives, tuna purple dye 
• garum: possibly a generic term for fermented fish sauce; Romans used it much like Chinese used soy sauce after the fall of Rome, 
• garum vanished from the Mediterranean 

So, garum comes from decomposing mackerel and was considered a delicacy in the ancient world.

And folks make jokes about lutefisk! LOL.

And for more trivia on murex/purple dye, see this post. 

TransCanada Withdraws Its Keystone XL Application. Check. -- November 18, 2015

Flashback to November 9, 2012, I posted the EPA to-do checklist. EPA's goal go kill the Keystone XL can now be checked off -- I had checked it off earlier, because it was obvious the Keystone XL was dead as long ago as 2012, but now it's official. Oil & Gas Journal is reporting:

TransCanada Corp. formally notified Nebraska’s Public Service Commission that it is withdrawing its revised route application for the proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline. The move came after the Obama administration’s Nov. 6 denial of the project’s cross-border permit after more than 7 years of delays.

The company, filed the application with Nebraska’s PSC in early October, said on Nov. 18 that it did not seem appropriate to keep it active following the administration’s permit denial action.

That was easy.

As long as we are doing flashbacks, here's an April Fool's day flashback, from April 1, 2013:

I can't make this stuff up. President Obama proclaims the month of April to be the month to teach young people how to budget responsibly:

President Barack Obama, who has increased the national debt by $53,377 per household, has proclaimed April “National Financial Capability Month,” during which his administration will do things such as teach young people “how to budget responsibly."

“I call upon all Americans to observe this month with programs and activities to improve their understanding of financial principles and practices,” Obama said in an official proclamation released Friday.

Kerry Kills Keystone; LA Times On Rising Crime In California -- November 6, 2015

Kerry Kills Keystone XL

AP says "Obama Administration" kills Keystone XL. It only took seven years to review. The "Obama Administration" still has no strategy on Syria, either.

SecState John Kerry (who served in Vietnam) kills the Keystone XL pipeline. President Obama says regardless of climate change issues, oil is so inexpensive now, the Keystone is not needed for national security. Very, very clever. Sort of a "present" vote.  

Based on the amount of oil flooding this country, the Keystone XL is not needed.


Based on the type of oil the Keystone XL would have delivered to the Gulf Coast, one could make the case for the Keystone XL.

But then the data doesn't support the argument. More Canadian oil is reaching the US today than what would have been moved by the Keystone XL.

The question becomes: has the Keystone simply become a decision on who gets to move oil to the US: TransCanada or Enbridge and the railroads?

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Stories That Caught My Attention 

In The Print Edition Of The Wall Street Journal

Almost missed; at the very bottom of page 2, section A: first-time home buys near 1987 level.

The share of US homes sold to first-time buyers this year declined to the lowest level in almost three decades, a potential sign that young people are being left out of an otherwise strong housing market. 

First-time buyers fell to 32% of all purchasers in 2015 from 33% last year, the third straight annual decline and the lowest percentage since 1987, when it was 30%. The historical average is 40%, going back to 1981.

Take a look at the graphic at this link: Europe sees slower growth. Pay particular attention to Greece. Deep doo-doo. Again. Is bail-out hypenated?

House passes highway bill, along with restoring Ex-Im Bank. No link; reported everywhere. Another stimulus package. Senate already passed a highway bill; they will be reconciled. Call it "great."

Syria regime opens Aleppo supply route. When did Russia first become actively involved? A few weeks ago. Shock and awe.

Kurdish militants take war stance. Okay.

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Top Story Over At Los Angeles Times

Lead story over at The Los Angeles Times: most non-violent crimes in California are now misdemeanors and many are saying that is why crime rate is rising in the state.

Semisis Sina has kept sheriff's deputies busy in the last year.

The 30-year-old has stolen bicycles from his Hacienda Heights neighborhood. He has skipped out on drug treatment and kept up his meth habit.

He has racked up 16 arrests, earning himself a place near the top of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's list of repeat offenders picked up for theft or drug use. And he says a new law has made it easier for him to commit crimes.

"Now, you can get away with it because of Proposition 47," Sina said recently in an interview at his parents' home.

One year after voters approved the landmark ballot measure, Proposition 47 has dramatically altered California's criminal justice landscape.

The proposition, which downgraded drug possession and some theft crimes to misdemeanors, made good on its pledge to reduce prison and jail populations by thousands of inmates. Tens of thousands more people with older felony convictions have been able to wipe their records clean, giving them the chance to qualify for new jobs and other benefits.

But law enforcement officials and others have blamed Proposition 47 for allowing repeat offenders like Sina to continue breaking the law with little consequence.

Crime has risen in the state's largest cities, setting off debate over whether the proposition is responsible. In some areas, street cops are making fewer narcotics arrests.
And without the threat of a felony conviction and a lengthy stint behind bars, fewer drug offenders are enrolling in court-ordered treatment in Los Angeles and other counties.

"Proposition 47 was good and bad," said Thomas Loversky, a Manhattan Beach-based criminal defense attorney who has clients in drug court. "The good part is we have people who shouldn't be spending time in jail not spending time in jail. The bad part of Proposition 47 was there was no hammer to force people who needed treatment to get it."

Along with theft (excluding auto theft), the following are now simply misdemeanors: these offenses include shoplifting, writing bad checks, and drug possession.

Of course, sending folks to jail didn't change anything anyway; it simply took them off the street for six months to a year or so. 

Update On Keystone XL 2.0 North Pipeline Milestones

 Updates

January 29, 2015: House has already passed the bill. Senate passes the Keystone XL bill earlier today, 62 - 36. 

Original Post

About one year ago, I posted my best-guess estimates for the Presidential Keystone XL 2.0 North decision. The estimates (E) are brought forward below. I was wildly optimistic, expecting that the recently released State Department SEIS would have been released almost one year ago. Wow, was I wrong. I assume all the "snow-days" in Washington, DC, slowed things down for the State Department:

The old timeline

February 28, 2014 (E) White House approves with conditions. Any decision later than this will impact the mid-term elections.

January 30, 2014 (E): On President Obama's desk. 

January 15, 2014 (E): State Dept makes recommendation. Other departments can object. In early 2013, State Department said they would not make decision before end of 1H13, and then revised it by saying "not before March, 2013," so the January 15, 2014, date may be six months too long.

November 15, 2013 (E): Mandatory 30-day wait.

October 15, 2013 (E): State Dept publishes final SEIS in the Federal Register.

September 30, 2013 (E): State Dept compiles comments and answers any "substantitve" concerns.

June 30, 2013 (E): EPA places summary in Federal Register.

June 15, 2013 (E): 45-day comment period ends.

May 1, 2013 (E): EPA's mandatory 45-day comment period. Impacted by new EPA chief.

March 4, 2013: EPA has to review the draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS). No deadline to complete.

March 1, 2013: State Department's Keystone Pipeline report Friday. This was a draft statement.

The new timeline

I suggested the SEIS might be released by May 1, 2013, at which time the EPA would review the environmental study. In fact, that occurred, not on May 1, 2013, but on January 31, 2014. So, the new timeline:

• The EPA has 45 days to review the SEIS (E): March 15, 2014.
• State Dept has unlimited time to study the EPA concerns (E): reports September 15, 2014
• SecState signs off on final State Dept report, places it in Federal register (E): December 15, 2014
• President Obama makes remarks in State of the Union Address, 2015 (E): January 20, 2015

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I updated the timeline today following The Dickinson Press op-ed on same. The managing editor's position: it's time for the President to make a decision. Okay.

Meanwhile,  here are the results of the poll at the sidebar in which was asked whether President Obama will eventually approve the Keystone XL 2.0 North pipeline:

• Yes: 31%
• No: 39%
• No longer matters: 30%

I won't take the poll down but I doubt I will update any new results.

Groundhog Day -- Keystone XL: At Least Another Six Months -- State Department Will Delay Decision Another Six Months

Updates

June 10, 2019: despite court win, no closer to completion.

July 30, 2018: US State Department gives new Nebraska route "positive" review. We've been here before. It actually got to President Obama's desk before he killed the project. After killing the project, Hillary came out against the Keystone XL also. So, we've been here before. The Nebraska Supreme Court is still hearing the case and promises to make a ruling by the end of this year (2018) or next year (2019). Ruth Bader Ginsberg, 85 years old, says she plans to remain on the US Supreme Court for another five years so she can rule on the Keystone XL when the project reaches the highest court in 2022.

November 20, 2017: Nebraska regulators approve 3 - 2 the "concept" that TransCanada can build the Keystone XL pipeline through their state .. but not where the company had planned. Back to square one. Even if TransCanada agrees to the new route, what's not to say that the Nebraska state supreme court won't step in and stop the whole thing? All this "excitement" that the pipeline has been approved is grossly misplaced.

March 29, 2017: connecting the dots. Not quite a "commentary." 

March 24, 2017: Trump administration approves Keystone XL. Nebraska has not approved the new route; won't even get to the issue until September, 2017, the earliest. 

November 10, 2015: with regard to the Keystone, winners: Warren Buffett's BNSF, Venezuela, CBR in general, Enbridge. Losers: Canada, future large pipeline projects, the American public, Nebraska taxpayers, those who wait at RR crossings. 

November 6, 2015: SecState John Kerry (who served in Vietnam) kills the Keystone. President Obama says regardless of climate change issues, oil is so inexpensive now, the Keystone is not needed for national security. Very, very clever. Sort of a "present" vote. Obama/US public don't understand US refining; heavy oil; light oil; and why the decision to kill the Keystone was all about "saving" Saudi, Iraq, Iran at the expense of Canada. 

October/November 2015: Obama says he will decide Keystone issue before he leaves office.

February 22, 2014: Rigzone says the Nebraska PSC won't vote on the new Keystone XL route for at least seven months. This pushes the decision into 2015.

February 19, 2014: judge rules that the Nebraska governor did not have the authority to approve the new route for the Keystone XL 2.0 North. Back to square one. LOL. 

February 3, 2013: from Petroleum News, all of a sudden, the Canadian government, others, getting nervous -- this US administration might not approve the Keystone XL. 

However, what should have been the most welcome development for the Canadian government in more than four years of raging battles over the project and its own desire to open up a huge new market on the U.S. Gulf Coast for oil sands crude has instead turned gloomy.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who seldom comments on natural resource matters, told reporters Jan. 27 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that Obama’s inaugural speech to launch his second term does not bode well for the pipeline.

By pledging to combat climate change, emphasizing that a “failure to do so would betray our children and future generations,” and insisting the U.S. should be a leader in sustainable energy, Obama had effectively eroded the outlook for Keystone XL, Flaherty suggested.

“I had reason for optimism before the election that the president would approve (the pipeline) were he re-elected, but his (inaugural) speech was not encouraging,” he said.

If the 830,000 barrels per day XL pipeline is scuttled it removes the prospect of including about 100,000 bpd of Bakken crude on the system to Cushing, Okla., and accessing TransCanada’s Gulf Coast project to carry 700,000 bpd from Cushing to Nederland, Texas, starting late this year.

I still don't believe any North Dakota Bakken oil is going to be put into the Keystone XL without a huge price discount.

I think the announcement delaying a decision for six months was a political trial balloon: the administration will see how much blow-back it gets. If it doesn't get much blow-back, the Keystone XL is dead. As far as I know, there are not many US voters living in Canada. I think this is a win-win for the president: his faux environmental base doesn't want the Keystone XL; and, no one in the US really cares.

It will also be a nice feather in the new SecState's cap. Sort of like President Nixon going to China.

Original Post 

Groundhog Day is tomorrow, Saturday, February 2, 2013, just in time for this post. I can't make this stuff up.  

I believe when we last left "As The World Turns," we were on episode 49.  I could be wrong; I have lost count. But like reruns in syndication, it really doesn't matter.

Now episode 50 of "As The World Turns" in which Bill Murray plays the president of the United States, and Stephen Tobolowsky plays the part of TransCanada's CEO:


Click here for yet another ridiculous excuse ...

The Obama administration's decision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline will not be made until at least June, a U.S. official said, which would delay the project for months and frustrate backers of Canada's oil sands.

"We're talking the beginning of summer at the earliest," said the source, who did not want to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the TransCanada Corp project, which has been pending for more than four and a half years. "It's not weeks until the final decision. It's months."

I have no dog in this fight. But this continues to be great news for the Bakken, for Enbridge, for the crude-by-rail folks, for Warren Buffett, for the US oil and gas industry, for Saudi Arabia, for OPEC, actually for everybody except the Canadians. Some people even suggest that TransCanada is better off not getting this pipeline approved. Again, remember: Bakken oil was never going to be put in the Keystone XL pipeline. This pipeline is only about Canadian oil and politics.

When gasoline starts hitting $4.00/gallon or more this spring/summer, a lot of folks will blame this on the Keystone XL delay, but the Keystone XL being delayed a few more months will have no effect on the price of oil.

I assume the only reason the President is delaying the decision is because he can. Next week: "I'm Chevy Chase, and you're not."

Keystone XL 2.0 Timeline

February 28, 2014 (E) White House approves with conditions. Any decision later than this will impact the mid-term elections.

January 30, 2014 (E): On President Obama's desk. 

January 15, 2014 (E): State Dept makes recommendation. Other departments can object. In early 2013, State Department said they would not make decision before end of 1H13, and then revised it by saying "not before March, 2013," so the January 15, 2014, date may be six months too long.

November 15, 2013 (E): Mandatory 30-day wait.

October 15, 2013 (E): State Dept publishes final SEIS in the Federal Register.

September 30, 2013 (E): State Dept compiles comments and answers any "substantitve" concerns.

June 30, 2013 (E): EPA places summary in Federal Register.

June 15, 2013 (E): 45-day comment period ends.

May 1, 2013 (E): EPA's mandatory 45-day comment period. Impacted by new EPA chief.

March 4, 2013: EPA has to review the draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS). No deadline to complete.

March 1, 2013: State Department's Keystone Pipeline report Friday. This was a draft statement.

For The Keystone XL: Now It's The Texas Wetlands

Episode 49 of "As The World Turns": In tonight's episode, TransCanada tweaks the southern pipeline plan to a avoid clash with the EPA.

Application for Keystone XL 2.01S will tweak Keystone XL 2.0S. The pipeline will now go under the wetlands rather than across the wetlands.

TransCanada submitted its new application in April, after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency raised concerns about the effect the original plan would have on wetlands along the Texas Gulf Coast and called for a more rigorous review process. Under the new plan, the company will drill under the wetlands rather than run across them, eliminating the need for EPA involvement, said Vicki Dixon, regulatory program manager for the southwestern division of the Army Corps of Engineers.

Episode 48 of "As The World Turns" is here.

Cushing Speech: Day 1 S/P ROCKS

The Remarkable Obama Cushing-Keystone Speech (ROCKS) was delivered March 21, 2012.

So what we’ve said to the company is, we’re happy to review future permits.  And today, we’re making this new pipeline from Cushing to the Gulf a priority.  So the southern leg of it we're making a priority, and we're going to go ahead and get that done. The northern portion of it we're going to have to review properly to make sure that the health and safety of the American people are protected.  That’s common sense. 

Translation: "This administration will slow-roll the southern portion (wink-wink) but we'll never see the northern portion approved while I'm (Barack) president."

Profiles in courage:

• Obama: "We're happy to review future permits."
• JFK: "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy - but because they are hard"

Let's see how many days it takes to reach these milestones:

• Day 0, March 21, 2012: ROCKS
• Day 1, March 22, 2012: today
• Day X: headline that TransCanada has started laying Keystone XL 2.0S
• Day X: headline that TransCanada has submitted the application for XL 2.0N
• Day X: headline that the president has approved Keystone XL 2.0N
• Day X: headline that TransCanada has started laying Keystone XL 2.0N
• Day X: headline that TransCanada is having insurmountable troubles completing the Keystone XL 2.0S (Texas ranchers, Sierra Club)
• Day X: headline that TransCanada says the heck with it