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Keystone XL pipeline opposed by U.S. politicians
News Articles | Calgary Herald | Dan Healing | June 23, 2010
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A coalition of U.S. Congressmen is stepping in to try to delay the $12-billion Keystone XL pipeline expansion, insisting in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the “tarsands oil pipeline” needs more study.
“This pipeline would deliver up to 900,000 barrels per day of tarsands oil from Alberta, Canada, over 2,000 miles to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast, more than doubling U.S. consumption of tarsands oil,” the letter signed by 50 representatives says.
“Because the issuance of a presidential permit to build this pipeline would have significant energy and environment implications for our nation for many years to come, we believe the permitting process should be done with the full consideration of the administration’s clean energy and climate change priorities.”
Spokespeople for TransCanada Corp., which is building the expansion, were not immediately available for comment.
Alberta Energy Minister Ron Liepert said he hadn’t heard about the letter but suggested it is motivated by “political grandstanding.”
“I can only assume they don’t represent states that had thousands of jobs created by Keystone,” Liepert said. “Either these guys are completely out of touch with reality or represent states that didn’t benefit from the significant investment TransCanada made.”
The U.S. politicians say oilsands operations emit three times more greenhouse gases than conventional production and call on the government to examine how climate may be influenced over the life of the pipeline.
The Keystone XL line will run from Hardisty, Alta., to Monchy, Sask., then cut across Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska before joining the existing Keystone pipeline. The expansion will also extend the pipeline from Oklahoma to Texas.
Calgary-based TransCanada became the sole owner of Keystone in August after buying ConocoPhillips’s 201 per cent stake for $550 million. ConocoPhillips had owned as much as 50 per cent of the line.
The Keystone XL expansion is supposed to start operating in 2012, according to TransCanada’s website.
DHEALING@THEHERALD.CANWEST.COM
JFEKETE@THEHERALD.CANWEST.COM
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