Say No to TransCanada Keystone XL We need to say NO to tar sands oil. Instead, we should say YES to made-in-America clean energy that will create jobs and reduce global warming pollution. American clean energy innovation will put Americans to work and make us more energy independent. Tar Sands Oil Big Oil has some big plans to put America’s clean energy future in jeopardy by expanding the production of tar sands oil – one of the most destructive, dirty, and costly fossil fuels. The largest tar sands reserves in the world are located beneath the boreal forest in Alberta, Canada. This forest provides critical habitat for about 50 percent of North America’s migratory birds and some of the largest populations of wolves, grizzly bears, lynx and moose in the world. Oil companies are digging up this pristine forest to extract the tar sands, leaving behind huge toxic wastelands. To remove the thick black oil from the sand, they heat it using natural gas and wash it using enormous volumes of freshwater. In the process, they create toxic lakes that are so large they are visible from space. Just in 2008, 1,600 migrating ducks drowned after landing in the toxic sludge. Producing one barrel of tar sands oil requires: Extracting at least four tons of earth, half of which is tar sands. Contaminating two to four barrels of freshwater to separate the oil from the sand. Releasing at least three times more global warming pollution than conventional oil. Keystone XL Once the thick black oil is removed from the tar sands and processed into a heavy crude oil, it’s ready for delivery. And the primary target is U.S. refineries. The U.S. already imports 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) of tar sands oil and the stage is being set for a drastic increase. The tar sands industry is fast at work building an extensive pipeline network that would deliver this dirty fuel to every corner of our nation. Several pipelines already transport tar sands oil from Canada to the U.S. and two new ones have been built in the last few years. But the next one could be a game-changer. TransCanada, a Canadian pipeline company, has proposed a pipeline called Keystone XL, which would carry up to 900,000 bpd of tar sands oil from operations in Alberta, Canada, more than 2,000 miles to refineries on the Gulf Coast. The pipeline would cut through six American heartland states, including Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Keystone XL would lock the U.S. into a dependence on this dirty fuel and drive a massive expansion of the tar sands operations in Alberta, Canada. Because Keystone XL would deliver tar sands oil to the Gulf Coast, America’s largest oil refining and transport hub, it would effectively open the entire U.S. market and international markets to dirty fuel. The added capacity of Keystone XL and the other two pipelines that have been built recently could more than triple U.S. consumption of tar sands oil. If expansion of tar sands goes unchecked Impacts of Keystone XL Risks to people, wildlife and property along the pipeline route Keystone XL will cross through America’s agricultural heartland, the Missouri and Niobrara Rivers, the Ogallala aquifer, sage grouse habitat, walleye fisheries and more. TransCanada has applied for a permit from the Department of Transportation to use thinner steel in its pipes and waive safety regulations to save the company money and allow it to pump the dirty fuel at dangerously high pressures. Our public water supplies, crop lands, wildlife habitats and recreational opportunities will all be at risk of dangerous tar sands oil leaks. More air pollution at refineries Refining of tar sands oil emits higher levels of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, lead, mercury, and other toxic pollutants than conventional oil. This increased pollution puts the communities located around the refineries, which already fail to meet basic clean air standards for soot and smog pollution, at further risk of respiratory disease. Undermines America’s clean energy future If built, Keystone XL will lock us into a future where we are dependent on one of the dirtiest and costliest fuels in the world. It’s time we invest in real solutions for our energy security. Cleaner fuels, like sustainable biofuels, more efficient vehicles, and new generation electric vehicles, are all viable and readily available alternatives to dirty tar sands oil. Making a transition to a clean energy future holds tremendous economic opportunity for all Americans rather than a continuation of the record profits for Big Oil by Big Oil. The Keystone XL pipeline would cut through America’s heartland, running nearly 2,000 miles from Alberta down to Port Arthur, Texas, where the tar sands will be refined into transportation fuels. Other, shorter pipelines are envisioned to run to refineries around the country. This network of tar sands pipelines would deliver even more pollution to refineries where and the surrounding communities, which are already experiencing health effects. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline will traverse rivers and carve across prairies, will flow on top of vital aquifers, and threaten farmers, ranchers and wildlife when it leaks or breaks, as it unquestionably will. Building this new pipeline would institutionalize a demand for a product that we do not need—especially if we seize the initiative to wean ourselves from this a fuel that is sullying our coasts, tearing up our heartland, and destroying the health and livelihoods of communities. Current projections are that the new pipeline would not even run close to capacity, raising the question of why the U.S. is even considering this project. Promoting the growth of the Canadian tar sands industry is a dangerous and foolhardy development. This pipeline system would virtually assure the destruction of swaths of one of the world’s most important forest ecosystems, produce lake-sized reservoirs of toxic waste, import a thick, tarlike fuel that will release vast quantities of toxic chemicals into our air when it is refined in the U.S., and emit significantly more global warming pollutants into the atmosphere than fuels made from conventional oil. Communities that live near the tar sands are already experiencing health problems linked to the pollution, and dozens of wildlife species are at risk, including millions of migrating cranes, swans, and songbirds. If Keystone XL crosses our border, it will cut through thousands of miles of sensitive habitat in America’s heartland. When the tar sands are refined in U.S. facilities, the resulting pollution will foul our air and water. We believe that the U.S. needs clean and renewable energy solutions as we make the inevitable and necessary transition to a post-oil world. Tar sands, as well as other inferior fossil fuels like oil shale, simply should not be part of the equation. Tar sands are a starkly inefficient, polluting, ecologically disastrous and expensive way to power our cars and trucks. Each tar sands pipeline our government approves further increases our dependence on this dirty fuel. These pipelines will become, in effect, a longterm, government-approved pollution delivery system. If we allow all these pipelines to be built, we are essentially saying that we are willing to feed our oil habit, even if we know it will harm our air, water, health, prosperity and planet. Agreeing to increase our imports of Canadian tar sands represents the worst kind of addictive behavior: “persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to by physically, psychologically, or socially harmful.” Why then, we ask in this report, is the U.S. poised to allow this expanded pipeline network that will lock our country into an ongoing reliance on the dirtiest of fossil fuels? It is time to apply every ounce of American ingenuity to finding a technological path to a future that relies far less on oil and other fossil fuels and far more on sources of fuel that are renewable, sustainable, and clean. By applying the talent and technology of America’s best minds and businesses, this country can dramatically improve our environment and accelerate our move beyond a dirty energy economy. We have arrived at a critical crossroads that will determine whether we can break free from this dependence—or lash ourselves tighter to it. Building new pipelines to import billions of barrels of dirty fuel from Canada is taking the wrong path into increasingly hazardous terrain. We should tell our elected leaders to reconsider
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 19:58:36 +0000
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