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Fifty U.S. legislators express concern over TransCanada’s Keystone oil pipeline
News Articles | Canadian Press | Lauren Krugel | June 23, 2010
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CALGARY – Fifty U.S. legislators say they’re worried a pipeline linking Alberta’s oilsands to Texas refineries will be rubber-stamped without adequate environmental oversight.
“Building this pipeline has the potential to undermine America’s clean energy future and international leadership on climate change,” they said in a letter sent to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
As of Wednesday, the letter had been signed by 50 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, many of whom sit on the Energy and Commerce, Natural Resources and Transportation and Infrastructure committees. All are Democrats.
TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP) needs a permit from the State Department before it can begin construction on the 3,200-kilometre Keystone XL pipeline from Hardisty, Alta., to Port Arthur, Texas.
On a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Representative Steve Cohen asked jokingly whether “XL” stands for “extra long” or “extra-large.”
“Right now we don’t need to be doing extra long or extra large pipelines, particularly with what we’ve seen in the Gulf,” said the Tennessee politician, referring to the ongoing BP oil spill off the Louisiana coast.
“As oil continues to pour into the Gulf, we should take a step back and reconsider the wisdom of trusting these oil companies out to make a profit and with no thoughts of anything but oil, oil, oil.”
Approving a U.S.-bound crude pipeline runs counter to the Obama administration’s goal of moving toward cleaner fuels like wind and solar, Cohen said
“This is a mistake. The construction of this pipeline must be looked at very circumspectly and I think cancelled,” he said.
Peter Welch, a representative from Vermont, said there needs to be a thorough review of the wider environmental impacts of the pipeline, including the full-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of oilsands-derived crude.
“Will we make certain that the Keystone process has to go through this? Or will we give it a waiver, and a wink and a nod and the quick-fix corner-cutting approval that has been so catastrophic in other circumstances?”
TransCanada vice-president Robert Jones, who is in charge of Keystone, said those who signed the letter don’t have all the facts.
“I think clearly a lot of misrepresentation on the oilsands has been presented to them,” he said.
The United States consumes 20 million barrels of oil per day, more than half of which needs to be imported from Canada, Venezuela, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Mexico.
“And of those five nations, only Canada has regulation with regards to GHGs and the environment,” Jones said.
No legislators from the states Keystone XL will traverse — Montana, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas — signed the letter, he added.
Keystone opponents say TransCanada has asked for permission to use thinner pipe in the project, heightening concerns that a spill could take place.
Representative Cohen echoed those concerns, calling Keystone a “scary proposition” and a “disaster in the making.”
Jones said TransCanada wants to use steel that’s lighter, but stronger.
“Let’s look at your car, for example. In 1960 it weighed three times now than it does today, but today’s cars are much safer,” he said.
Keystone XL is an expansion to an existing TransCanada pipeline that runs from Alberta to refineries in the U.S. Midwest.
Commercial operations on the first phase are to begin next month, and construction on an extension to Cushing, Okla., is set to be complete next year.
Keystone XL would start in Alberta, and through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska before stretching down to the U.S. Gulf Coast, where the bulk of U.S. refining capacity is located.
Tagged with: keystone xl, transcanada, pipeline, state department, hillary clinton, house kxl letter, congress, canadian press
