February 2012. Type above and press Enter to search. [5] Pipelines in the Keystone Pipeline System go through stress tests prior to use. [64], On November 3, 2015, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry issued a determination that the project was not in the public interest. Since it first went into operation in 2010, TC Energys original Keystone Pipeline System has leaked more than a dozen times; one incident in North Dakota sent a 60-foot, 21,000-gallon geyser of tar sands oil spewing into the air. [279] In April 2010, three smaller refineries sued TransCanada to break Keystone transportation contracts, saying the new pipeline has been beset with cost overruns. [62] The Senate was unable to override the veto by a two-thirds majority, with a 6237 vote. The Keystone pipeline spill in a creek running through rural pastureland in Washington County, Kansas, about 150 miles northwest of Kansas City, also was the biggest in the system's history, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data. . "[154] However, an independent study conducted by the Cornell ILR Global Labor Institute refers to some studies (e.g. Indigenous communities are also concerned with health risks posed by the extension of the Keystone pipeline. The Canadian portion of the pipeline runs from Hardisty, AB, east through Manitoba where it turns south and crosses the border into North Dakota. As the debates go on about this Keystone XL project being the biggest threat to the US, here are some common myths and facts you need to know about this project. Additionally, the review process for the KXL pipeline project was outsourced by the US government to a company that has close ties with TransCanada. On June 9, 2021, TC Energy abandoned plans for the Keystone XL Pipeline. [157] Diane Francis has argued that much of the opposition to the oil sands actually comes from foreign countries such as Nigeria, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia, all of whom supply oil to the United States and who could be affected if the price of oil drops due to the new availability of oil from the pipeline. He states, Our resistance to the Keystone XL pipeline and other tar sand infrastructure is grounded in our inherent right to self-determination as indigenous peoples. This Keystone XL project will bring oil from Canadas oil sands to Gulf Coast in Texas. [8], The leak raised concerns from environmentalists due to the transfer of tar sands through the pipeline, which are more toxic than crude oil and can sink in water. Nevertheless, in the mid-2000s, with gas prices on the rise, oil companies ramped up production and sought additional ways to move their product from Canadas remote tar sands fields to midwestern and Gulf Coast refineries. [54] In its response, TransCanada pointed out fourteen different routes for Keystone XL were being studied, eight that impacted Nebraska. ", "Keystone XL Clears Hurdle In South Dakota", Pipe dreams? [272] TransCanada said that work on that section of the pipeline could start in June 2012[273] and be on-line by the middle to late 2013. [65], On November 6, 2015, the Obama administration rejected the Keystone XL pipeline project, citing economic and environmental concerns. [220] Despite some records being posted by consulted agencies such as the EPA, the State Department has not responded to the request. [51], On August 26, 2011, the final environmental impact report was released on stating that the pipeline would pose "no significant impacts" to most resources if environmental protection measures are followed, but it would present "significant adverse effects to certain cultural resources". Additionally, it should be noted here that Canadian oil sands have been labeled as the dirtiest form of crude oil because of their high carbon content and linked to 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In 2011, Russ Girling, president and CEO of TransCanada, touted the positive impact of the project as "putting 20,000US workers to work and spending $7billion stimulating the US economy", according to a report they commissioned. [170] Until Canadian crude oil accesses international prices like LLS or Maya crude oil by "getting to tidewater" (south to the U.S. Gulf ports via Keystone XL for example, west to the BC Pacific coast via the proposed Northern Gateway line to ports at Kitimat, BC or north via the northern hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, on the Beaufort Sea),[174] the Alberta government is losing from $430 billion in tax and royalty revenues as the primary product of the oil sands, Western Canadian Select (WCS), the bitumen crude oil basket, is discounted so heavily against West Texas Intermediate (WTI) while Maya crude oil, a similar product close to tidewater, is reaching peak prices. And these exports are more than 10 times the capacity of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Hid Contractor's Ties to Keystone XL Pipeline Company", "Oil, money and politics; EPA snags Keystone XL pipeline", letter to U.S. Dept. However, people, environmental activities, and organizations working on climate change strongly oppose this project. I am a marketing executive in a virtual SEO Expert. This project will certainly increase the possibility of spills through the periodic need for maintenance in the future. One such protest, a historic act of civil disobedience outside the White House in August 2011, resulted in the arrest of more than 1,200 demonstrators. [52], In September 2011, Cornell ILR Global Labor Institute released the results of the GLI Keystone XL Report, which evaluated the pipeline's impact on employment, the environment, energy independence, the economy, and other critical areas. TransCanada has developed an Aboriginal Relations policy in order to confront some of these conflicts. Its mines are a blight on Canadas boreal, where mining operations dig up and flatten forests to access the oil below, destroying wildlife habitat and one of the worlds largest carbon sinks. [130] Another proposed solution is TransCanada's Aboriginal Human Resource Strategy, which was developed to facilitate Aboriginal employment and to provide "opportunities for Aboriginal businesses to participate in both the construction of new facilities and the ongoing maintenance of existing facilities". However, current US president Joe Biden has now opposed the project by canceling permits of this project. In cooperation with Enterprise Products Partners LP it is reversing the Seaway pipeline so that an oversupply of oil at Cushing can reach the Gulf. As the debates go on about this Keystone XL project being the biggest threat to the US. When completed it will add 350,000 barrels (56,000m3) per day new capacity to the existing pipeline for cumulative total of 800,000 barrels (130,000m3) per day. Its nasty stuff., A fully realized Keystone XL would have led to more mining of that nasty stuff by accelerating the pace at which its produced and transported. As an expansion of the companys existing Keystone Pipeline System, which has been operating since 2010 (and continues to send Canadian tar sands crude oil from Alberta to various processing hubs in the middle of the United States), the pipeline promised to dramatically increase capacity to process the 168 billion barrels of crude oil locked up under Canadas boreal forest. In 2009 it bought out ConocoPhillips' shares and revert to being the sole owner. At every turn, the Tar Sands Invasion would put people and the environment in harm's way. of State concerning Keystone XL pipeline, "Keystone XL Pipeline: About the project", "Senate Fails to Override Obama's Keystone Pipeline Veto", "GOP Threatens to Subpoena State Department", "TransCanada Requests Suspension of U.S. [135] In his book The Pipeline and the Paradigm, Samuel Avery quotes landowner David Daniel in Texas, who claims that TransCanada illegally seized his land via eminent domain by claiming to be a public utility rather than a private firm. [12] The Keystone XL pipeline segments were intended to allow American crude oil to enter the XL pipelines at Baker, Montana, on their way to the storage and distribution facilities at Cushing, Oklahoma. | Indigenous Environmental Network", "Gulf Disaster Raises Alarms about Alberta to Texas Pipeline", "Nebraska governor signs bills to reroute Keystone pipeline", "GOP bill would force action on Canada oil pipeline", "Obama denies Keystone XL pipeline permit", Map of Pipelines and the Ogallala Aquifer, 2012, How Pipelines Make the Oil Market Work Their Networks, Operation and Regulation, Myth vs. What Are The 20+ Reindeer Facts For Kids? Its no small feat extracting oil from tar sands, and doing so comes with steep environmental and economic costs. But the path to victory wasnt always clear. [61] On February 11, 2015, the Keystone XL Pipeline was passed by the House of Representatives with the proposed Senate Amendments 270152. Fact: KXL will Threaten the Ogallala Aquifer, Smaller oil pipeline to cross Ogallala Aquifer, "TransCanada Wins as Obama Keystone Permit Seen", "Keystone XL pipeline: Obama rejects controversial project", "TransCanada proposes new Keystone XL route in Nebraska", "Exclusive: State Dept. [156], TransCanada's Girling has also argued that if Canadian oil doesn't reach the Gulf through an environmentally friendly buried pipeline, that the alternative is oil that will be brought in by tanker, a mode of transportation that produces higher greenhouse-gas emissions and that puts the environment at greater risk. It would have sliced through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma to the Texas Gulf Coast, delivering 830,000 barrels of tar sands oil per day. As per the analysis report conducted by Cornell Universitys Global Labor Institute, these job claims are nothing but mere fabrications. [256] and that over the proposed 50-year timeline of the pipeline, this could mean releasing as much as "1.37 billion more tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere". On March 2, 2014, approximately 10001200 protesters marched from Georgetown University to the White House to stage a protest against the Keystone Pipeline. but the truth is energy prices will hike up at some point. [152][153] TransCanada CEO Russ Girling has argued that "the U.S. needs 10 million barrels a day of imported oil" and the debate over the proposed pipeline "is not a debate of oil versus alternative energy. [46] On April 2, 2016, PHMSA issued a CAO to TransCanada for a 16,800 US gallons (64m3) leak in Hutchinson County, South Dakota,[47] and again on April 9. As per the analysis report conducted by Cornell Universitys Global Labor Institute, these job claims are nothing but mere fabrications. Even as Trump and TC Energy tried to revive the pipeline, polls showed that a majority of Americans opposed it. This pipeline has a strong chance of leaking, and if so, it could contaminate the water. From here, it will be sent to different overseas markets. You'll receive your first NRDC action alert and "[188], In August 2012, the Tar Sands Blockade launched an indefinite tree sit in East Texas;[189] Naomi Klein credits these blockades and direct action against the pipeline in general with popularising the global anti-extractivist Blockadia movement. Cindy S. Woods, The Great Sioux Nation V. The Black Snake: Native American Rights and the Keystone XL Pipeline. Instead, TransCanada has invested a lot in misleading the American public by using fake science and faked numbers to promote the viability of the KXL pipeline project. Some of those landowners gave testimony for a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing in May 2011. What some pipeline advocates think is the "Keystone Pipeline" is a 1,700-mile "shortcut" called Keystone XL, or KXL. [213], In April 2013, the EPA challenged the U.S. State Department report's conclusion that the pipeline would not result in greater oil sand production, noting that "while informative, [it] is not based on an updated energy-economic modeling effort". ), It would also have led to greater greenhouse gas emissionswhich, the latest scientific reports makes clear, we simply cant afford if were to avoid the most catastrophic climate impacts. [23][24], According to a February 10, 2011 Reuters article, Koch Industries were in a position to increase their profits substantially if the Keystone XL Pipeline were approved. The operator of the Keystone Pipeline System, which carries a form of crude oil from Canada to multiple states for refining, said over the weekend . These spills could release as much as 180,000 barrels (29,000m3) of oil each."[223]. Indeed, one study found that between 2007 and 2010, pipelines moving tar sands oil in Midwestern states spilled three times more per mile than the U.S. national average for pipelines carrying conventional crude. [169], In October 2009, a suit was filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council that challenged the pipeline on the grounds that its permit was based on a deficient environmental impact statement. [34], On January 22, 2008, ConocoPhillips acquired a 50% stake in the project. Jobs Gained, Jobs Lost by the Construction of Keystone XL, "EPA: Keystone XL impact statement needs revising", "EPA Calls for Further Study of Keystone XL", "Keystone Pipeline Leak Was Twice as Big as Previously Thought", "Keystone pipeline spills 210,000 gallons of oil on eve of permitting decision for TransCanada", "Keystone Poses 'No Significant Impacts' to Most Resources Along Path US", "Pipe dreams? 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