Since this pipeline will carry raw tar sands known to be more abrasive and corrosive, the chances of oil spills increase significantly. (After the June 2010 spill of more than 800,000 US gallons (3,000m, "Realistic calculations yield worst-case spill estimates of more than 180,000 barrels (29,000m, "Contaminants from a release at the Missouri or Yellowstone River crossing would enter, "The worst-case site for such a spill is in the, Gallup (March 2012): 57% government should approve, 29% government should not approve, Pew Center (September 2013): 65% favor, 30% oppose, Rasmussen (January 2014): 57% favor, 28% oppose (of likely voters), USA Today (January 2014): 56% favor, 41% oppose, Washington PostABC News (April 2014): 65% government should approve, 22% government should not approve, CBS News Roper (May 2014): 56% favor, 28% oppose, This page was last edited on 25 February 2023, at 19:48. Heres everything you need to know about the historic KXL fightand why the pipelines cancellation has had no impact on current oil prices. [111], On January 18, 2018, TransCanada announced they had secured commitments to ship 500,000 barrels (79,000m3) per day for 20 years. In February 2011, the Keystone-Cushing extension (Phase II) was completed running 468 kilometres (291mi) from Steele City to a tank farm in Cushing, Oklahoma. The Keystone Pipeline oil spill occurred on December 7, 2022, when a leak in the Keystone Pipeline released 14,000 barrels of oil into a creek in Washington County, Kansas. [279] In April 2010, three smaller refineries sued TransCanada to break Keystone transportation contracts, saying the new pipeline has been beset with cost overruns. A September 2013 poll by the Pew Center found 65% favored the project and 30% opposed. The Keystone XL pipeline extension, proposed by TC Energy (then TransCanada) in 2008, was initially designed to transport the planets dirtiest fossil fuel, tar sands oil, to marketand fast. They included one potential alternative route in Nebraska that would have avoided the entire Sandhills region and Ogallala Aquifer and six alternatives that would have reduced pipeline mileage crossing the Sandhills or the aquifer. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. Initially, President Obama put this project on hold, but Donald Trump turned it and gave it a green flag. Indeed, moving crude by rail to the Gulf costs substantially more than moving it by pipe. He also stated that the Keystone Pipeline was planned to include 57improvements above standard requirements demanded by U.S. regulators, making it "the safest pipeline ever built". It's derived from a sludgy, sticky deposit found beneath the wilds of northern Albertas boreal forest. Even worse, building Keystone XL would have meant enduring those risks just to send the fuel to our overseas rivalsand the profits to Big Oil. Keystone XL Pipeline, Gas Prices, and Oil Exports, Keystone XL Pipeline Environmental Impact, Keystone XL Pipeline Controversy and False Claims, President Trump and the Keystone XL Pipeline, President Biden and the End of the Keystone XL Pipeline, officially abandoned the project in June 2021, tar sands oil spill in Kalamazoo River, Michigan, Its mines are a blight on Canadas boreal, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, Farmers, ranchers, tribes, and conservation groups, abandoning its plans for building the pipeline, Ghost Pipelines: How Landowners Suffer, Long After a Project Gets Canceled, The Future Has Spoken: Its Time to Shut Down DAPL and Stop Line 3, Battered by Floods, Nebraskans Worry About Pipeline Spills, 2018 Wasnt a Completely Horrible Year for the Environment, A Rubber Stamp on Keystone XL? Other items of note in Stansbury's analysis: Portions of the pipeline will also cross an active seismic zone that had a 4.3-magnitude earthquake as recently as 2002. [28], Additional phases (III, completed in 2014, and IV, rejected in 2015) have been in construction or discussion since 2011. The Canadian portion of the pipeline runs from Hardisty, AB, east through Manitoba where it turns south and crosses the border into North Dakota. This lines up with an industry trend: Oil and gas companies are exporting 8.4 million barrels of crude oil and refined fuels every single day. [110][202], On November 10, 2011, the Department of State postponed a final decision while investigating "potential alternative routes around the Sandhills in Nebraska" in response to concerns that the project was not in the United States' national interest.[54]. [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". [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. [282], The Sandhills region and Ogallala Aquifer. Frontline Indigenous youth, who have been standing up against destructive oil pipelines for years, are imploring President Biden to join them in protecting their water, lands, and cultures. The decision echoed a seven-year State Department review process with EPA input that concluded the pipeline would fail to serve national interests. From the refineries, the oil would be sent chiefly overseasnot to gasoline pumps in the United States. "[211] In response to the Department of State's report, which recommended neither acceptance nor rejection, an editor of The New York Times recommended that Obama should reject the project, which "even by the State Department's most cautious calculationscan only add to the [climate change] problem". [8][9][10][11] 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. [40] Later that year, the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission granted a permit to proceed. Simultaneous 'solidarity' protests were also organized in several other cities across the United States, Europe, and Canada. [48] The pipeline restarted at a reduced operating pressure on April 10 after the U.S. regulator approved the companies corrective actions and plan. It also included approximately 373 kilometres (232mi) of new 30-inch-diameter (760mm) pipeline, 16pump stations and the Keystone Hardisty Terminal. The leak lasted for several minutes, with no initial reports of damage to water sources or wildlife. DAPL may be underway, but the water protectors at Standing Rock taught us a lot about going up against the fossil fuel industry. This isnt your grandfathers typical oil, says Anthony Swift, director of NRDCs Canada project. seq., the Corps' issuance of the permits was arbitrary and capricious and an abuse of discretion. By the time President Biden took office in 2021, ready to fulfill his campaign promise to revoke the cross-border permit, the dirty energy pipeline had become one of the foremost climate controversies of our time. [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. 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. [8] This phase generated the greatest controversy because of its routing over the Sandhills in Nebraska. [169], In 2013, United States Democrats were concerned that Keystone XL would not provide petroleum products for domestic use, but simply facilitate getting Alberta oil sands products to American coastal ports on the Gulf of Mexico for export to China and other countries. Furthermore, the project cannot create such a high number of jobs for Native Americans. Its costly both to produce and to ship, particularly by rail, which would be an alternative to Keystone XL. It is also predicted that this project will create only a few full-time jobs for steel workers during its construction period. Keystone XL is a proposed pipeline of approx 1,179 miles that would join the existing channel to improve oil flow and save on transportation costs. [128] Earl Hatley, an environmental activist who has worked with Native American tribes[129] has expressed concern about the environmental and public health impact on Native Americans. [216], In May 2013 Republicans in the House of Representatives defended the Northern Route Approval Act, which would allow for congressional approval of the pipeline, on the grounds that the pipeline created jobs and energy independence. Even as Trump and TC Energy tried to revive the pipeline, polls showed that a majority of Americans opposed it. [204] In December 2011, Congress passed a bill giving the Obama Administration a 60-day deadline to make a decision on the application to build the Keystone XL Pipeline. What some pipeline advocates think is the "Keystone Pipeline" is a 1,700-mile "shortcut" called Keystone XL, or KXL. While an 11-volume State Department report on the Keystone XL pipeline found in 2014 that it would not significantly contribute to carbon pollution, critics say the project threatens Alberta's. [94][95] In the summary judgment, the judge agreed that the Endangered Species Act was violated, thereby voiding the permit. [125], On September 19, 2011, a number of Indigenous tribal leaders in the United States and Canada were arrested for protesting the Keystone XL outside the White House. 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. The Keystone pipeline is seen as a way to replace imports of heavy oil-sand crude from Venezuela with more reliable Canadian heavy oil. Historic flooding recently inundated parts of the Cornhusker State where the proposed Keystone XL pipeline would pass through. Good Luck Persuading These Nebraskans, The Dirty Fight Over Canadian Tar Sands Oil, 10 Threats from the Canadian Tar Sands Industry, The Dakota Access Pipeline Fight Fuels Battles Across the Country, Still No Approved Route for KXL in Nebraska, Meet Jane Kleeb: One of Nebraskas First and Fiercest KXL Opponents, Why We Must Stop the Flow of Tar Sands Oil, Win! The same poll found the pipeline favored by majorities of men (69%), women (61%), Democrats (51%), Republicans (82%), independents (64%), as well as by those in every division of age, education, economic status, and geographic region. [34], On January 22, 2008, ConocoPhillips acquired a 50% stake in the project. 15 Fun Facts About Stray Kids | Entertainment. Keystone XL was a terrible idea from the start, Swift said. [133] In this article Wood refers to the pipeline as a black snake that poses a major threat to the Sioux Nation. However, experts suggested that this will increase Americas reliance on oil only and ultimately reduce efforts towards renewable and sustainable energy options. The estimate of 2,000 during construction came under heavy attack, while the long-term, permanent job estimates did not receive as much criticism. economy. It is unclear how much of the oil transported through the pipeline would have reached American consumers instead of being exported to other countries. On the campaign trail, Biden vowed to cancel the Keystone XL cross-border permit should he win the presidencyand on his first day in office, he made good on that promise. A spill would have been devastating to the farms, ranches, and communities that depend on these crucial ecosystems. However, this project is seeing protests by environmentalists and American due to its severe consequences on environmental safety, public health, jobs, and energy security. Whats more, the whole process of getting the oil out and making it usable creates three to four times the carbon pollution of conventional crude extraction and processing. However, current US president Joe Biden has now opposed the project by canceling permits of this project. However, experts suggested that this will increase Americas reliance on oil only and ultimately reduce efforts towards renewable and sustainable energy options. [207], In January 2012, President Obama rejected the application amid protests about the pipeline's impact on Nebraska's environmentally sensitive Sandhills region. . [30] The original Keystone Pipeline cost US$5.2 billion. [246][247] 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. The oil leak is the largest seen from the Keystone pipeline in the state. This story was originally published on April 7, 2017, and has been updated with new information and links. By that point, Keystone XL faced an unfriendly administration, numerous legal challenges, declining oil prices, worsening climate impacts, and a growing movement of climate organizersalong the pipelines route and around the worldunwilling to look the other way. [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. [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. [160][161][162] These numbers have been disputed by an independent study conducted by the Cornell ILR Global Labor Institute, which found that while the Keystone XL would result in 2,500 to 4,650 temporary construction jobs, the impact will be reduced by higher oil prices in the Midwest, which will likely reduce national employment. [31]:147, The project was first proposed in 2005 by the Calgary, Alberta-based TransCanada Corporation,[32] and was approved by Canada's National Energy Board in 2007. [157] Rep. Ed Whitfield, a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce concurred, saying "this is the most technologically advanced and safest pipeline ever proposed". [36] In June 2008, the Keystone XL extension was proposed. Organizer Bill McKibben said, "this has become not only the biggest environmental flash point in many, many years, but maybe the issue in recent times in the Obama administration when he's been most directly confronted by people in the street. And the risk that Keystone XL would have spilled was heightened because of the extended time the pipe segments were left sitting outside in stockpiles. For those of you who have heard this claim that organized labor is in support of this pipeline, heres the shocking truth. . [250], In September 2011, Joe Oliver, Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, sharply criticized opponents of oil sands development in a speech to the Canadian Club of Toronto, arguing that oil sands account for about 0.1% of global greenhouse-gas emissions, coal power plants powered in the U.S. generate almost 40 times more greenhouse-gas emissions than Canada's oil sands and California bitumen is more GHG-intensive than the oil sands. December 2022: More than half a million . Meanwhile, major new tar sands projects stopped moving forward, despite investments from the government of Alberta, Canada. This phase was constructed 2013 to 2016 and went online in 2017. [23][24], The Keystone Pipeline system consisted of the operational Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III, the Gulf Coast Pipeline Project. [55][56] [135] As of October 17, 2011, TransCanada had "34 eminent domain actions against landowners in Texas" and "22 in South Dakota". Press Esc to cancel. [3] The leak was detected near Washington County, Kansas, and spilled into Mill Creek, a creek that flows directly into the Little Blue River (Kansas/Nebraska). [4][5][107] Oil producers in the U.S. pushed for this phase so the glut of oil can be distributed out of the large oil tank farms and distribution center in Cushing. [5] Pipelines in the Keystone Pipeline System go through stress tests prior to use. The pipeline had been projected to carry oil nearly 1,200 miles (1,900km). Less than two years before the project was finally pulled, the Keystone tar sands pipeline was temporarily shut down after a spill in North Dakota of reportedly more than 378,000 gallons in late October 2019. Since this Keystone XL project will pass through the Sandhills region, a spill accident on a large scale in the future could cause severe damage to this environmentally sensitive region. 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. Keystone XL: Myths vs. Facts Keystone XL - the 2,000 mile tar sands pipeline that would stretch from Canada to the Gulf Coast - sparked an escalating debate in recent months, with both sides sparring over the consequences for energy security, jobs, public health and environmental safety. [122] After Donald Trump's victory in that election, he released a presidential memorandum on January 24, 2017 announcing revival of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. [60] The Senate had passed it 6236 on January 29,[61] and the House approved it 270152 on February 11. Natural Resources Defense Council 2023 Privacy Policy As the original caretakers, we know what it will take to ensure these lands are available for generations to come. [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". [114] By 2011, Koch Industries refined 25% of all crude oil imported into the United States. On February 24, 2015, the bill was vetoed and returned for congressional action. A terrible idea from the Keystone Hardisty Terminal reached American consumers instead of being exported to countries... 2017, and Canada phase was constructed 2013 to 2016 and went in! Steel workers during its construction period XL pipeline would pass through are at top!, Canada it and gave it a green flag water protectors at Standing Rock US! 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Miles ( 1,900km ) black snake that poses a major threat to the Gulf costs substantially more moving... Has been updated with new information and links other countries to know the! Know about the historic KXL fightand why the pipelines cancellation has had no impact on current prices! To produce and to ship, particularly by rail to the farms, ranches, and that... As a black snake that poses a major threat to the farms ranches... Long-Term, permanent job estimates did not receive as much criticism start, Swift said 34 ] the... Review process with EPA input that concluded the pipeline had been projected to oil... ], on January 22, 2008, the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission granted a permit to proceed that... No impact on current oil prices Cornhusker State where the proposed Keystone XL extension was proposed deposit found beneath wilds! This article Wood refers to the Gulf costs substantially more than moving it by pipe current President!
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keystone pipeline facts 2022