By Gene Roe.
In a recent op-ed in the New York Times Michael A. Levi, David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment, and Director of the Program on Energy Security and Climate Change, Council 0n Foreign Relations analyzed the recent decision by the Obama administration on the Keystone XL pipeline. He stated, “”This has become a fight where one side says this is this extraordinary thing for energy security and the other says it’s this horrible thing for the environment”. Levi adds, “If we get into the habit of having a lot of politics involved in what used to be fairly routine approvals and developments then that will become a larger economic problem.”
With the arguments being pretty badly exaggerated on both sides it seems to me that in this case the use of today’s sophisticated geospatial technologies, such as Geographic Information Systems – GIS and the use of remote sensing should certainly have been able to identify the sensitive environmental areas. From this, as in the case of any infrastructure or construction project a plan could have been developed to mitigate the damage. Can it be entirely eliminated? No. Would the benefits out weigh the liabilities?
Another concern that I have read about in this pipeline debate is the potential for methane, a potent greenhouse gas to leak from buried pipelines. DIAL – differential absorption LiDAR can be used from a helicopter to monitor pipeline routes for leaks and identify problem areas. Creative solutions exist if people are interested in looking for them.
But as we all know this is not about science and/or technology. It is about politics, which is not the subject of this post. I think we can all agree that the US needs a coherent, published energy policy that reflects a long term shift toward sustainable energy sources and that addresses the greenhouse gas issue. How can we not have that in place?
I can assure the politicians and other decision makers that the geospatial community stands ready to assist in the development of this policy and in its implementation. In many cases the answers to the technical question are not all that clear, but if you add politics into the discussion then the ability to define a clear strategy becomes almost impossible.
It’s all about leadership and compromise – two character traits that are unfortunately in short supply.
