Questões para Concursos

Obama Rejects Keystone XL Pipeline
Why Keystone XL Is Dead

President Obama announced Friday morning
that he has denied TransCanada’s permit application
to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline in the U.S.
“The State Department has decided that the
5 Keystone XL pipeline would not serve the national
interest of the United States,” Obama said. “I agree
with that decision.”
Obama said America is a global leader on taking
action on climate change, and approving Keystone XL
10 would have undercut that leadership. Some crude oil
needs to be left in the ground to keep the climate from
warming further, and rejecting Keystone XL will help
meet that goal, he said.
Among the reas ons for rejecting Keystone XL,
15 Obama said the pipeline would not make a meaningful
long-term contribution to the U.S. economy, nor would
it increase U.S. energy security or help to lower gas
prices, which have already declined dramatically over
the last year.
20 TransCanada said in a statement that it “would
review all of its options in light of a permit denial for
Keystone XL,” including the possibility of filing a new
permit application for a pipeline.
“TransCanada and its shippers remain absolutely
25 committed to building this important energy
infrastructure project,” TransCanada CEO Russ
Girling said in a statement.
State Department officials said at a news
conference Friday that TransCanada is free to apply
30 for a new permit to build a cross-border pipeline and it
is up to the company to do so.
The $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline was slated to
stretch 1,179 miles from east-central Alberta, Canada,
to the Texas Gulf Coast. It would transport 830,000
35 barrels of crude oil per day from the Canadian tar
sands to refineries near Houston. Proposed in 2008,
the 875-mile section between the Canadian border
and Steele City, Neb., needed State Department
approval because it crossed an international border.
40 Other parts of TransCanada’s Keystone Project
between central Nebraska and Texas have already
been built and are carrying tar sands oil to refineries
along the Gulf Coast today. Environmental advocates
have rallied against the unbuilt portion and urged the
45 Obama administration to reject it, saying emissions
from the production and burning of tar sands oil it
would carry could worsen climate change.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
calculated that the tar sands oil the pipeline would
50 carry is highly damaging to the climate, emitting about
1.3 billion more tons of greenhouse emissions over
the pipeline’s 50-year lifespan than if it were carrying
conventional crude oil. The production of tar sands oil
releases 17 percent more CO2 into the atmosphere
55 than the average barrel of crude oil produced
elsewhere, according to the State Department.
“Construction of the Keystone XL pipeline would
be inconsistent with stabilizing global warming below
dangerous levels,” Penn State University climate
60 scientist Michael Mann said. “I am pleased that the
administration has made good on their promise to take
seriously the task of acting on climate by rejecting the
construction of the pipeline.”

Available at: . Retrieved on: Nov. 10th, 2015. Adapted

O suor e a lágrima

Fazia calor no Rio, 40 graus e qualquer coisa,
quase 41. No dia seguinte, os jornais diriam que fora
o mais quente deste verão que inaugura o século e
o milênio. Cheguei ao Santos Dumont, o vôo estava
5 atrasado, decidi engraxar os sapatos. Pelo menos
aqui no Rio, são raros esses engraxates, só existem
nos aeroportos e em poucos lugares avulsos.
Sentei-me naquela espécie de cadeira canônica,
de coro de abadia pobre, que também pode parecer
10 o trono de um rei desolado de um reino desolante.
O engraxate era gordo e estava com calor — o
que me pareceu óbvio. Elogiou meus sapatos, cromo
italiano, fabricante ilustre, os Rosseti. Uso-o pouco,
em parte para poupá-lo, em parte porque quando
15 posso estou sempre de tênis.
Ofereceu-me o jornal que eu já havia lido e co-
meçou seu ofício. Meio careca, o suor encharcou-lhe
a testa e a calva. Pegou aquele paninho que dá brilho
final nos sapatos e com ele enxugou o próprio suor,
20 que era abundante.
Com o mesmo pano, executou com maestria
aqueles movimentos rápidos em torno da biqueira,
mas a todo instante o usava para enxugar-se — caso
contrário, o suor inundaria o meu cromo italiano.
25 E foi assim que a testa e a calva do valente filho
do povo ficaram manchadas de graxa e o meu sapato
adquiriu um brilho de espelho à custa do suor alheio.
Nunca tive sapatos tão brilhantes, tão dignamente
suados.
30 Na hora de pagar, alegando não ter nota menor,
deixei-lhe um troco generoso. Ele me olhou espanta-
do, retribuiu a gorjeta me desejando em dobro tudo o
que eu viesse a precisar nos restos dos meus dias.
Saí daquela cadeira com um baita sentimento
35 de culpa. Que diabo, meus sapatos não estavam tão
sujos assim, por míseros tostões, fizera um filho do
povo suar para ganhar seu pão. Olhei meus sapa-
tos e tive vergonha daquele brilho humano, salgado
como lágrima.

CONY, C. H. In: NESTROVSKI, A. (Org.). Figuras do Brasil –
80 autores em 80 anos de Folha. São Paulo: Publifolha. 2001.
p. 319.