# Keystone -- why not put refinery at the site of the tar sands **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 26, 2012, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keystone-why-not-put-refinery-at-the-site-of-the-tar-sands/614042 "2012-02-26T05:37:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keystone-why-not-put-refinery-at-the-site-of-the-tar-sands/614042/21 "2012-02-27T19:13:07Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > In view of the difficulty in politically getting the pipeline through, and in view of the shortage of refineries in North America, why not build a refinery near the site of the tar sands and refine it to gas, diesel and other products right on site? I haven’t really seen a simple explanation to the OP, so I’ll provide my opinion. I attribute it to efficient allocation of resources. As others have noted, there are existing refineries with excess capacity able to process the oilsands product. Several American refineries have invested in technologies to deal with the more viscous oilsands product and it would be extremely costly to build a new refinery when you already have several ones willing and able to take the product. Essentially, a new Canadian refinery is too late to the game. Regarding oilsands vs tar sands, I’ve heard energy companies and the media use oilsands. I generally only hear tar sands from environmentalists. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keystone-why-not-put-refinery-at-the-site-of-the-tar-sands/614042/22 "2012-02-27T20:23:13Z")
So oilsands almost ties tar sands in Google after a concerted effort by the oil industry to push the name… i wonder how may oil industry publications and style guide enforcement efforts it took to tie “Tar Sands”? I really don’t care if the environmentalists prefer Tar, or the tar industry prefer “oil”, but for 30 years AFAIK it was called the tar sands. The rest is PR. ---
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keystone-why-not-put-refinery-at-the-site-of-the-tar-sands/614042/23 "2012-02-28T01:13:42Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > So oilsands almost ties tar sands in Google after a concerted effort by the oil industry to push the name… > > i wonder how may oil industry publications and style guide enforcement efforts it took to tie “Tar Sands”? I really don’t care if the environmentalists prefer Tar, or the tar industry prefer “oil”, but for 30 years AFAIK it was called the tar sands. The rest is PR. Actually, the cites I’ve posted show that it has been called tar sands for a hundred years, and oil sands for at least 70 years - and both terms have been used almost interchangeably by most people. The “PR” of the semantics has only become an issue within the last decade or so. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keystone-why-not-put-refinery-at-the-site-of-the-tar-sands/614042/24 "2012-02-28T01:16:54Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Hmmm, well I live in the \*\*\*country \*\*\*where the tar sands are, and everyone that I recall has called them the “Tar Sands” since, IIRC, Pierre Trudeau brought them to everyone’s attention when he promised money to develop them during his reviled energy policy. I suppose they’ve been called “oil sands” a lot, but this is the first time I’ve noticed them not being called tar sands, and I do read the news. Maybe it’s an Alberta/Marketing thing to call them oil. [Dalton McGuinty calls them “Oil sands” too.](http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120227/CGy_oilsands_redford_120227/20120227/?hub=CalgaryHome) 🙂 (I’ll be expanding on this article in the Canadian thread.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keystone-why-not-put-refinery-at-the-site-of-the-tar-sands/614042.md?page=1)