The unintended consequences for the average US citizen on this issue are going to be significant. It is going to cost you $10/barrel more for all Alberta and Sask. oil. Given that Alberta supplies more foreign oil to the USA than Saudi Arabia, the hit is going to be big. Right now the US refineries pay $10/barrel less for Alberta oil than they pay for international oil. That will no longer be the case once the Northern Gateway pipeline is in operation. Expect to pay a lot more for gasoline and diesel in the US. The other unintended consequence is the advances that CNRail is making in moving oil by rail. They have been buying up small raillines all over western Canada, and have claimed they can move up to 4M barrels of oil per day to any point in North America at $15/barrel less than by pipeline. No enviromental reviews needed no payoffs to Indian Bands etc. The thing is Canada will not turn back now no matter what the US wants. And this is just the beginning, once Canadians get the feel for doing business with Asia we will expand the trade. Think Potash, and many other strategic minerals. Sask. has 25% of the world’s potash etc.