In their relentless quest to stymy the Keystone XL pipeline, the eco-radical crowd has determinedly and consistently neglected to mention several inconvenient truths plaguing their ill-advised campaign, including that 1) the United States is going to need to lay a lot more pipeline to our already-existing hundreds of thousands of miles’ worth of infrastructure in the coming years to cope with our ever-growing shale boom; 2) while they continue to protest the northern XL extension, the Keystone pipeline running through the southern portion is already well underway and practically complete; 3) the Keystone pipeline won’t merely be accommodating Canadian oil, but domestic products as well; and 4) that TransCanada will find a way to develop and bring their oil sands to market with or without the help of the most efficient, environmentally friendly, safe, and cost-effective method of transport — a.k.a., the fully extended Keystone pipeline (the greens’ penchant for counterproductivity never ceases to amaze).

Oh, and speaking of the southern portion of the Keystone pipeline being practically complete, we can pretty much go ahead and move that over to the “complete” category, via the WSJ:

U.S. oil prices rose 2% Wednesday, the biggest jump in two weeks, as traders and investors bet that the opening of a new pipeline will help alleviate a glut of crude in the Midwest.

Investors, traders and analysts in recent weeks have been focused on the race by pipeline operators to catch up with the oil-output boom in the U.S. For almost three years, U.S. oil prices have been depressed relative to world prices and Europe’s Brent crude contract. That has been due largely to a lack of infrastructure, which has caused barrels to pile up in and around Cushing, Okla., the largest storage hub in the Midwest.

Oil futures prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped after TransCanada Corp. said the southern leg of its Keystone XL pipeline, which is to pump 700,000 barrels of crude a day from Cushing to oil refineries on the Gulf Coast, was nearly complete. …

The pipeline expansion will allow U.S. oil better access to the key Gulf Coast refining region. Oil from the U.S. already has begun to displace imports, such as the higher-priced Brent, there.

This is a very timely upgrade for our pipeline infrastructure, which has been strapped for space as the oil and gas companies have come a-clamorin’ to get their wares down to the Gulf Coast refining region — and I would merely point out once more that the Keystone XL pipeline, as well as bringing oil, gas, and petroleum products from Canada, would also be a big help to the boomtown that is the North Dakota energy production scene.