Letter: Oil pipeline may lower prices

The same day that President Barack Obama killed the Keystone Pipeline, I received a bill for $600 for heating oil, as did many Long Islanders ["American must not punt on pipeline," Editorial, Jan. 20]. For me, that is $140 higher than last year.

This is not a Republican or Democratic issue. It is in the interest of the country that this pipeline be approved. The Keystone Pipeline would, I am sure, bring down the price of oil and gasoline. Experts say that by spring, the price of gas at the pump could be $4.50 per gallon.

Getting oil from Canada rather than the Middle East is a no-brainer. Canada is our friend and neighbor. Another plus of Keystone would be jobs.

Why do our elected Democratic representatives in Congress -- Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer, and Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) -- balk at challenging the president's decision and blame the other party?

Robert Shulha, Rocky Point
 

Concerning the Canada-Texas oil pipeline -- or deep-sea drilling for that matter -- the one thing I never hear about is the production cost per barrel. The easier it is to extract oil, the cheaper the production cost.

Extracting oil from sand and from a mile under the water sounds like it's got to be expensive. So the question naturally arises, will harnessing these sites make it cheaper for us at the gas pump, or lower our fuel bills?

If so, let's carefully proceed. We don't need oil spills in America's breadbasket or another BP. If not, let's continue to look at more efficient ways to make our motors run that use less crude, because that will definitely bring down the price of oil.

Bruce Schoenberg, Smithtown