Enthymeme Conditions of Rebuttal

Claim: We should approve the Keystone XL pipeline with a few conditions

• Most of the oil will be exported, not used domestically

Reason: It would allow the US to become energy independent

• We’ll still be dependent on another country for oil, it will just one closer to home

Grounds• It will provide a major source

of oil for the country• It will cut down on the

amount of oil we need to import

• It will strengthen our relationship with our neighbors

• It will reduce the variations on prices controlled by external factors

• We should focus on cleaner sources of energy instead of oil

• It wouldn’t provide enough oil long enough to sustain independence,

Warrant: The US should become energy independant

• It would be economically ruinous to get to the point of self-sustainability

Backing• Importing oil is expensive• Oil forces us to deal with

countries that have it, regardless of their policies

• We don’t have the long term resources to sustain energy independence

• We’d have to deal with disagreeable countries for resources we don’t have anyways

• Energy independence allows us to decide our own energy policy

• Energy indépendance simply sustains our reliance on dirty fuels

• If we are energy independent, we can focus more on finding alternative fuels