Right. And unless anyone can outspend Warren Buffet and Big Oil, all this protest amounts to no more than delays and added costs (which, don't get me wrong, are the citizens' only hope of affecting the outcome.) The only potential deal-breakers here are the EIS determining that the projects are not environmentally feasible (which to my knowledge has never happened), the process becoming prohibitively expensive (not likely- this is Big Oil and Berkshire Hathaway we're dealing with), or the foreign market for oil dropping to a point at which exports will no longer be profitable (not likely, but probably the most likely of the three).

Another potential outcome that I think is more realistic would be that other, existing ports would offer the corporate partners a sweet enough deal to make it profitable to ship oil to Asia from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coast. Apparently, Montreal and New Orleans have both thrown hats in the ring. Hopefully, that starts moving fast, as I think it's the only scenario in which we won't see these projects eventually approved on our coast.