U.S. Issues Keystone XL Pipeline Environmental Review

In the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on the controversial pipeline, the department takes no position on whether it should be built but notes that tar-sand crude produces 17 percent more greenhouse gases than conventional crude and as much as 10 percent more than heavy crude. "Even though the State Department continues to downplay clear evidence that the Keystone XL pipeline would lead to tar sands expansion and significantly worsen carbon pollution, it has, for the first time, acknowledged that the proposed project could accelerate climate change," NRDC International Program Director Susan Casey-Lefkowitz said, adding that President Obama "Now has all the information he needs to reject the pipeline." Ahead of the report's release, a spokesman for the company in charge of the project, TransCanada Corp., said the expectation is that the report would affirm earlier findings that the $5.4 billion pipeline is manageable from an environmental impact standpoint. "The southern leg of the Keystone XL, which went into normal operation in January 2014, ties into the existing Keystone pipeline that already runs to Canada, bringing up to 700,000 barrels of oil a day to refineries in Texas. At peak capacity, the pipeline will deliver 830,000 barrels of oil per day. While the pipeline is initially carrying U.S. light crude, it is expected to carry more heavy Canadian oil harvested from tar sands over the next year."
Source: NPR


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