Full Answer
Why to stop the Keystone Pipeline?
The Canadian company behind Keystone XL, TC Energy, operates a pipeline which spilled thousands of gallons of oil in South Dakota in 2017 and North Dakota in 2019. Activists and tribal members say the pipeline endangers water quality, breaks tribal land treaties and pipeline construction brings the threat of human trafficking.
What is the purpose of the Keystone Pipeline?
What is the Keystone XL Pipeline?
- Keystone Pipeline System. The keystone pipeline system is an oil transport system in North America. ...
- Timeline of the Keystone XL Pipeline Project. ...
- Environmental Concerns of Keystone XL Pipeline. ...
- Economics of Keystone XL Pipeline. ...
- Learn More. ...
What are the pros and cons of Keystone XL pipeline?
What Are the Pros of the Keystone Pipeline?
- The Keystone Pipeline can be a major job creation project. ...
- The Keystone Pipeline can be a major economic contributor. It is believed that the Keystone XL pipeline has the potential to contribute more than $3 billion annually to the ...
- It would re-establish the Alberta oil sands sector for Canada. ...
Why did the Keystone Pipeline shut down?
The Keystone pipeline has not been shut down. It is still moving hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil every day. All that oil passes right through the US, on its way to Asian markets. What was stopped was the building of the XL extension. The XL extension was slated to be built right over the top of the nations largest fresh water aquifer.
What were the benefits of the Keystone pipeline?
The Keystone XL Pipeline will contribute to energy security, create tens of thousands of high-quality employment and local contracting opportunities as well as provide a substantial economic benefit to local communities across Canada and the United States.
Who does the Keystone pipeline supply?
US crude oilThe Keystone Pipeline System plays a key role in delivering Canadian and US crude oil supplies to markets around North America. It stretches 4,324 km (2,687 miles) from Alberta to refineries in Illinois, Oklahoma and the US Gulf Coast.
What is bad about Keystone pipeline?
No matter how you look at it, Keystone XL would be bad for wildlife, especially endangered species. Many imperiled species live along the proposed pipeline's path and in areas where tar-sands oil is produced. If the pipeline were built, it would decimate habitat these species rely on.
Who owns the oil in the Keystone pipeline?
TC EnergyKeystone PipelineKeystone Pipeline System (partly operational and proposed)TypeCrude oilOwnerTC EnergyWebsitewww.tcenergy.com/operations4 more rows
Why was the Keystone pipeline stopped?
Keystone XL was halted by owner TC Energy after U.S. President Joe Biden this year revoked a key permit needed for a U.S. stretch of the 1,200-mile project.
Who shut down the Keystone pipeline?
TransCanada shut down a portion of the Keystone XL Pipeline after they "reported a spill of about 187 gallons of crude oil" near the Freeman pump station in Hutchinson County, South Dakota.
What is the issue with the pipeline?
Controversial Keystone XL Pipeline Is Halted : NPR. Controversial Keystone XL Pipeline Is Halted TC Energy suspended construction in January when President Biden revoked a key permit. The controversial project was a major flashpoint in the debate over fossil fuels' role in climate change.
How does the Keystone pipeline affect the economy?
But once the pipeline is finished, it will create just 35 permanent jobs, according to the report. The State Department estimated that construction of Keystone XL would contribute $3.4 billion to the nation's output. That's about 0.02 percent of the $18 trillion U.S. economy.
When did Obama refuse to grant a permit for the Keystone pipeline?
When the Obama administration refused to grant the cross-border permit necessary to build TC Energy’s Keystone XL oil pipeline in November 2015, it struck a blow against polluting powers and acknowledged the consensus on this misguided project from a wide swath of people and organizations. “America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change,” President Obama said. “And, frankly, approving this project would have undercut that global leadership.” The Obama-era decision echoed a seven-year State Department review process with EPA input that concluded the pipeline would fail to serve national interests.
What would happen if Keystone XL was fully realized?
A fully realized Keystone XL would lead to more mining of that “nasty stuff” by accelerating the pace at which it’s produced and transported. (Indeed, Keystone XL was viewed as a necessary ingredient in the oil industry’s plans to triple tar sands production by 2030.)
How much oil would be transported by Keystone XL?
To be precise, it would transport 830,000 barrels of Alber ta tar sands oil per day to refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Some 3 million miles of oil and gas pipelines already run through our country. But Keystone XL wouldn’t be your average pipeline, and tar sand oil isn’t your average crude.
Why is Keystone XL being opposed?
Opposition to Keystone XL centers on the devastating environmental consequences of the project. The pipeline has faced years of sustained protests from environmental activists and organizations; Indigenous communities; religious leaders; and the farmers, ranchers, and business owners along its proposed route. 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. More than 90 leading scientists and economists have opposed the project, in addition to unions and world leaders such as the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and former president Jimmy Carter (together, these and other Nobel laureates have written letters against the project). In 2014, more than two million comments urging a rejection of the pipeline were submitted to the State Department during a 30-day public comment period.
When will Keystone XL be cancelled?
January 20, 2021 Melissa Denchak. UPDATE: June 9, 2021: TC Energy announced that it is canceling the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, putting an end to a fossil fuel project that endangered waterways, communities, and the climate, which President Biden denied a key permit for on his first day in office.
Where is Keystone XL?
The first, a southern leg, has already been completed and runs between Cushing, Oklahoma, and Port Arthur, Texas. Opponents of this project—now called the Gulf Coast Pipeline—say that TC Energy took advantage of legal loopholes to push the pipeline through, securing a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit and dodging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) more rigorous vetting process, which requires public input. The second segment is the currently contested 1,209-mile northern leg—a shortcut of sorts—that would run from Hardisty, Alberta, through Montana and South Dakota to Steele City, Nebraska.
Is Keystone XL pipeline shut down?
Most recently, on October 31, 2019, the Keystone tar sands pipeline was temporarily shut down after a spill in North Dakota of reportedly more than 378,000 gallons. And the risk that Keystone XL will spill has only been heightened: A study published in early 2020, co-authored by TC Energy’s own scientists, found that the anti-corrosion coating on ...
What is the Keystone pipeline?
The Keystone Pipeline system consists of the operational Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III, the Gulf Coast Pipeline Project. A fourth, proposed pipeline expansion segment Phase IV, Keystone XL, failed to receive necessary permits from the United States federal government in 2015. Construction of Phase III, from Cushing, Oklahoma, to Nederland, Texas, in the Gulf Coast area, began in August 2012 as an independent economic utility. Phase III was opened on January 22, 2014, completing the pipeline path from Hardisty, Alberta to Nederland, Texas. The Keystone XL Pipeline Project (Phase IV) revised proposal in 2012 consists of a new 36-inch (910 mm) pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta, through Montana and South Dakota to Steele City, Nebraska, to "transport of up to 830,000 barrels per day (132,000 m 3 /d) of crude oil from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Alberta, Canada, and from the Williston Basin (Bakken) region in Montana and North Dakota, primarily to refineries in the Gulf Coast area". 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. Cushing is a major crude oil marketing/refining and pipeline hub.
What are the health risks of the Keystone pipeline?
Indigenous communities are also concerned with health risks posed by the extension of the Keystone pipeline. Locally caught fish and untreated surface water would be at risk for contamination through oil sands extraction, and are central to the diets of many Indigenous peoples.
What happened to Nebraska landowners who refused to allow the TransCanada pipeline?
When Nebraska landowners who had refused TransCanada the permission it needed for pipeline easements on their properties, TransCanada attempted to exercise eminent domain over such use. Landowners in the path of the pipeline have complained about threats by TransCanada to confiscate private land and lawsuits to allow the "pipeline on their property even though the controversial project has yet to receive federal approval". As of October 17, 2011, TransCanada had "34 eminent domain actions against landowners in Texas" and "22 in South Dakota". Some of those landowners gave testimony for a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing in May 2011. 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. On October 4, 2012, 78-year-old Texas landowner Eleanor Fairchild was arrested for criminal trespassing and other charges after she was accused of standing in front of pipeline construction equipment on Fairchild's farm in Winnsboro, a town about 100 miles (160 km) east of Dallas. Fairchild has owned the land since 1983 and refused to sign any agreements with TransCanada. Her land was seized by eminent domain .
Why is Keystone XL pipeline bad?
commitment to a clean energy economy", instead "delivering dirty fuel at high costs". On June 23, 2010, 50 Democrats in Congress in their letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that "building this pipeline has the potential to undermine America's clean energy future and international leadership on climate change", referencing the higher input quantity of fossil fuels necessary to take the tar and turn it into a usable fuel product in comparison to other conventionally derived fossil fuels. The House Energy and Commerce Committee 's chairman at the time, Representative Henry Waxman, had also urged the State Department to block Keystone XL for greenhouse gas emission reasons.
What is the meaning of KXL in the pipeline?
The proposed Phase IV, Keystone XL (sometimes abbreviated KXL, with XL standing for "export limited") Pipeline, would have connected the Phase I-pipeline terminals in Hardisty, Alberta, and Steele City, Nebraska, by a shorter route and a larger-diameter pipe.
When was Keystone XL proposed?
In June 2008, the Keystone XL extension was proposed in June 2008. June 17, 2009' TransCanada began the process of becoming the sole owner of the pipeline. In September 2009, the NEB – replaced in 2019 by the Canadian Energy Regulator (CER) – started hearings.
How long is the Houston pipeline?
The Houston Lateral pipeline phase is a 47-mile (76 km) pipeline to transport crude oil from the pipeline in Liberty County, Texas, to refineries and terminal in the Houston area. This phase was constructed 2013 to 2016 and went online in 2017.
How much money will the Keystone pipeline contribute to the US economy?
It is believed that the Keystone XL pipeline has the potential to contribute more than $3 billion annually to the US economy once it become operational. It would also create an estimated $2.4 billion (in US dollars) for Canada, which would be split between the government, shareholders, and company reinvestments.
How many jobs will the Keystone pipeline create?
The US State Department has estimated that the construction of the pipeline project could create up to 42,000 jobs over a two-year construction period.
How to remove bitumen from the ground?
According to the New York Times, one method includes using water and natural gas to pump steam into the tar sands , which creates the potential for a toxic runoff. Strip mining is the other option. 2.
How many barrels of oil are in the Keystone pipeline?
The Keystone XL pipeline is a delivery system that is designed to carry over 800,000 barrels of oil sands petroleum per day from Western Canada to oil refineries along the Gulf Coast of the United States. Around half of the pipeline has already been completed, but its construction has always been opposed by various environmentalist groups.
What would happen if Keystone XL went active?
In practical terms: if Keystone XL goes active, it would be the equivalent of adding 5.6 million cars to US roadways every day. 6. Tar sands oil has the potential to be highly corrosive. The oil that will be piped through the Keystone XL extension is some of the most corrosive petroleum that is used today.
Why can Canadian producers raise prices with Keystone?
With Keystone, Canadian producers can raise prices because the quality of the petroleum will be better while they are able to cut into their overhead costs at the same time. 6. The amount of emissions added to the atmosphere from Keystone XL are negligible.
Is Keystone pipeline a full pipeline?
It isn’t a full pipeline project. The Keystone pipeline already exists in a completed state. At the moment, it delivers tar sands oil to the Midwest. The goal is to extend the pipeline down to the Gulf Coast to increase potential processing capacities with an asset that already exists.
Who chaired the Keystone XL hearing?
Legislators react to findings. Rep. Ed Whitfield (R) of Kentucky, who chaired two hearings into the Keystone XL, heard positive testimony about the pipeline – as well as contradicting testimony that it would do little or nothing for energy security while raising Midwest oil prices. He still likes the project, however.
Why do environmentalists oppose the pipeline?
But others, including environmentalists who oppose the pipeline mainly because extracting oil from tar sands releases more greenhouse gases than other methods of harvesting oil, also argue the pipeline will do little or nothing to boost US energy security and will actually lead to higher oil prices in the Midwest.
How long does it take to approve the pipeline?
That bill would strip the president of authority to block the project and give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 30 days to approve the pipeline. But most of the heated partisan rhetoric over job creation and gasoline prices glosses over ...
Will the TransCanada pipeline increase the price of oil?
In hearings last May and December, TransCanada officials admitted to US legislators that the pipeline will indeed increase the price paid for Canadian oil in the Midwest – but suggested those higher crude oil prices would not necessarily mean higher gasoline prices in that region.
Does the Keystone pipeline need to be built to bring Canadian oil to the US?
Less obvious, however, is the fact that the Keystone XL pipeline is not actually needed to bring all that new Canadian oil to the US – a flow now projected to rise to 1.7 million barrels per day by 2030, according to the same DOE study.
Is Keystone XL a no brainer?
Even so, supporters in Congress continue to call Keystone XL “a no-brainer" from a US energy-security standpoint, also arguing it would benefit consumers by lowering gas prices, too. Keystone XL's “supplies from reliable sources leads to lower costs, thereby putting downward pressure on prices,” one study on TransCanada's website says.
Will the Whitfield pipeline lower gasoline prices?
In an e-mailed statement, Whitfield's press secretary adds that the pipeline “will help lower the price of gasoline by bringing more oil supply to the market” and says the Department of Energy “specifically states that gasoline prices in all connected markets would go down.”.
When did the Senate vote against the Keystone pipeline?
On November 19, 2014, the U.S. Senate voted against the passage of the bill which would allow the Keystone XL Pipeline to proceed. The vote was one shy of passage at 59-41.
How many miles of pipe is the Keystone pipeline?
Fast Facts on the Pipeline. The Keystone Pipeline already exists. In fact, the Keystone Mainline is 1,353 miles of 30" pipe which extends from Hardisty, Alberta to refineries in Wood River and Peoria, Illinois. This segment has been in service since June 2010.
What is TransCanada pipeline?
TransCanada is a Canadian company that builds and operates energy infrastructure across the North American continent. In 2005, the company announced its intentions to build a pipeline to transport crude oil from the oil sands region of Alberta, Canada to the existing Keystone Pipeline in Steele City, Nebraska.
What are the arguments against the oil sands project?
These groups argue that the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions associated with the development of Canadian oil sands is harmful to the environment compared to conventional oil or renewable fuels. Most objections center on the extraction of the oil, but some suggest the project will only make the U.S. more dependent on fossil fuels. There is also an argument on the impact it may have on the long-term use of land and the harm it may cause to agriculture and cattle grazing. A leak in the pipeline is a primary concern along with the ability to respond quickly to a disaster of this nature. I've also heard opponents say that the project will not create very many high-quality or long-lasting jobs.
How far is Keystone XL pipeline?
This portion would transport oil over 435 miles through 36" pipe running from Cushing, Oklahoma to Port Arthur, Texas. The second segment, called the Keystone XL, would run 1,179 miles from Hardisty, Alberta to Steele City, Nebraska.
How many jobs will the pipeline create?
For example, the pipeline will increase the diversity of the U.S. petroleum supply. It will also create up to 43,000 jobs, the majority of which will be permanent.
Is Keystone pipeline good for the economy?
In summary, Keystone is good for the economy, good for U.S. energy independence, and good for the American consumer.
Why is the Keystone pipeline important?
The Keystone XL pipeline was designed to transport oil to the Gulf Coast because refineries in the region are already equipped to process heavier crude oils, like those found in Canada’s Alberta province. The same kind of crude oil comes to the region from Latin America. If the pipeline transfers as much crude oil to the Gulf Coast as ...
Where does Keystone XL pipeline go?
What gets exported. The Keystone XL pipeline will transport crude oil from Alberta, Canada to Nebraska. The oil will then flow through another pipeline to Gulf Coast refineries, where it will be refined into petroleum products like gasoline.
Does the Gillibrand pipeline affect gas prices?
The U.S. State Department did not respond to most of Gillibrand’s claim but did comment on how the pipeline could affect gas prices. "As the final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement makes clear, gas prices throughout the United States are primarily driven by global market factors," a spokesperson said.
Does Keystone XL have oil?
The Keystone XL pipeline "doesn’t even have any oil for America.". The Keystone Steele City pumping station in Nebraska. The Keystone XL pipeline is supposed to connect to the station / Credit: Associated Press, 2015.
Root of The Problem
- It's important to understand what's contributing to the high prices of oil in the first place. Gregory Nemet, professor of public affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Wisconsin Energy Institute, pointed out that the cost of oil has steadily increased since last fall, when it was around $70 a barrel, to more than $130 last week before se...
More Production, But Higher Costs For Americans
- Even if the pipeline was already built, it wouldn't help with the price at the pump, Nemet added, noting that the U.S. has already doubled its oil production over the last 15 years. "And yet, we still have $100 per barrel oil." With inflation soaring, gas prices have been increasing for months — hitting an average of $4.33 a gallonon March 11, according to AAA. "The key lesson there is the …
Less Oil, Clean Energy Fans Say
- By contrast, Mr. Biden's decision with the International Energy Agency to release 30 million barrels of oilfrom the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve puts downward pressure on gas prices in the short-term, Kieve said. The agency will release a total of 60 million barrels of crude to help ease some of the supply disruptions caused by the war Ukraine. "You won't see a lot of environmenta…
Overview
The Keystone Pipeline System is an oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States, commissioned in 2010 and owned by TC Energy and as of 31 March 2020 the Government of Alberta. It runs from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Alberta to refineries in Illinois and Texas, and also to oil tank farms and an oil pipeline distribution center in Cushing, Oklahoma.
Description
The Keystone Pipeline system consists of the operational Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III, the Gulf Coast Pipeline Project. A fourth, proposed pipeline expansion segment Phase IV, Keystone XL, failed to receive necessary permits from the United States federal government in 2015. Construction of Phase III, from Cushing, Oklahoma, to Nederland, Texas, in the Gulf Coast area, began in August 2012 as an independent economic utility. Phase III was opened on January 22, …
History
The project was first proposed in 2005 by the Calgary, Alberta-based TransCanada Corporation, and was approved by Canada's National Energy Board in 2007.
On September 21, 2007, the National Energy Board of Canada approved the construction of the Canadian section of the pipeline, including converting a po…
Ownership
The company, which changed its name from TransCanada Corporation to TC Energy Corporation on May 3, 2020, to "better reflect the scope of our operations as a leading North American energy infrastructure company", is the sole owner of the Keystone Pipeline System. The pipeline system was originally developed as a partnership between TransCanada and ConocoPhillips, but TransCanada acquired ConocoPhillips' interest in August 2009.
Route
This 3,456-kilometre-long (2,147 mi) pipeline runs from Hardisty, Alberta, to the junction at Steele City, Nebraska, and on to the Wood River Refinery in Roxana, Illinois, and Patoka Oil Terminal Hub (tank farm) north of Patoka, Illinois. The Canadian section involves approximately 864 kilometres (537 mi) of pipeline converted from the Canadian Mainline natural gas pipeline and 373 kilometre…
Issues
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. By 2011, Koch Industries refined 25% of all crude oil imported into the United States. In response to the article, Congressmen Henry Waxman and Bobby Rush submitted a letter to the Energy and Commerce Committee urging them t…
Protests and opposition
Bill McKibben, environmental and global warming activist and founder of 350.org, the group that organized the 2009 international protests—described by CNN as "the most widespread day of political action in the planet's history"—led the opposition to the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.
In the year before the 2012 United States presidential election, McKibben and o…
Environmental concerns
Environmental concerns include the potential for air pollution, and for leaks and spills, that could pollute critical water supplies and cause harm to migratory birds and other wildlife. One of the major concerns was the way in which the original route crossed the Sandhills, the large wetland ecosystem in Nebraska, and the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the largest reserves of fresh water in the world.