Keystone XL
Recent Events
 Click the video to see the ad campaign and learn more about Obama’s Choice |
- NOV 2010: Nationwide ad campaign launched calling upon President Obama to prevent the NEXT oil disaster by nixing the Keystone XL dirty tar sands oil permit.
- NOV 2010: Environmental group letter calling on Secretary Clinton to issue a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on the Keystone XL pipeline, and allow sufficient time for public review and comment.
- OCT 2010: Nebraska Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns send separate letters to Secretary Clinton raising “concerns [...] about her recent comments suggesting that the Keystone XL pipeline project running through Nebraska will likely be approved”.
- OCT 2010: Senate leaders raise concerns about Keystone XL: ask Secretary Clinton to consider the consequences of tar sands expansion, and explain the need for this oil
- JUL 2010: EPA comments on Keystone XL environmental impact statement. Calls it “inadequate” and says that it “needs to be revised”.
- JUL 2010: House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair letter to Secretary of Hillary Clinton declaring Keystone XL a “step in the wrong direction”.
- JUN 2010: 50 Congressional Representatives Urge the Obama Administration to Recognize the Keystone XL Pipeline’s Threat to our Clean Energy Future
- JUN 2010: Over 250 individual business leaders co-signed this letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling on her to suspend the Keystone XL permitting process.
- MAY 2010: Environmental group letter to President Obama urging him to learn the lesson of the gulf spill: ALL dirty fuels are dangerous and expensive — including tar sands oil; reduce our dependence on dirty fuels.
About the Proposed Pipeline
Graphic: NRDC
Click to see larger image
The proposed Keystone XL Pipeline (also know as the Keystone Gulf Coast Extenstion), is a 1,980 mile pipeline that would transport oil sands crude oil from Hardisty, Alberta and deliver it to existing terminals in Nederland, Texas to serve the Port Arthur, Texas oil market. A 50-mile spur would serve the Houston, Texas oil market.
In Canada the pipeline would extend approximately 327 miles from Hardisty, Alberta southeast through Saskatchewan before entering the United States in Morgan, Montana, where it would continue on southeast for 836 miles through South Dakota and Nebraska. In Steele City, Nebraska the pipeline will connect to the 296-mile long Keystone Pipeline before resuming in Cushing Oklahoma, where it would continue on to its final destination at existing terminals in Nederland, Texas.
Project Status
TransCanada is seeking a Presidential Permit from the U.S. Department of State that would allow the pipeline to cross the U.S. border. The project requires numerous state and local permits in Nebraska, South Dakota, and Montana. The first approval needed is a Certificate of Compliance under the state of Montana's Major Facility Siting Act. TransCanada expects to begin construction in 2010, with the pipeline coming in service in 2012.
On February 18th, the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission will rule on whether to approve the Keystone XL’s route through South Dakota. Plains Justice explains what’s at stake, and how to send comments, in the video below.
A state commission voted unanimously on February 18th to approve a construction permit for the crude oil pipeline TransCanada Keystone wants to build across western South Dakota.
More Information
- What tar sands oil means in America’s heartland, NRDC blog post
- South Dakota chapter of the Sierra Club has a tar sands pipelines page
- TransCanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline project website
- South Dakota Tar Sands Pipelines, a blog by Plains Justice.
- TransCanada’s permit applications with Montana Department of Environmental Quality
- TransCanada’s permit applications with the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission
- TransCanada’s State Department Presidential Permit application and EIS documents
- TransCanada’s permit applications for Montana's Major Facility Siting Act documents
- TransCanada’s permit application with the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality
- Overview of federal permits needed by TransCanada from Sierra Club
