Everything You Wanted to Know about the Keystone Pipeline--and more!

The Keystone Pipeline is an oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States. The pipeline system runs from the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in Alberta, Canada to oil refineries in Illinois and Texas and also to oil tank farms and oil pipeline distribution center in Oklahoma.

The oil pipeline consists of four phases, three of the phases already in operation and the fourth phase- Keystone Pipeline XL has been proposed however, it has since been met with controversy.

Keystone Pipeline System Phases:

Phase 1: The Keystone Pipeline

Construction started on this pipeline in 2008 and it was commissioned in June 2010. Delivers crude oil from Alberta, Canada to a junction in Steele City, Nebraska and then on to Wood River Refinery and Pakota Oil Terminal Hub in Illinois.

Phase 2: The Keystone-Cushing Project

Construction started on this extension of the pipeline in 2010 and was commissioned February 2011. The extension carries crude oil and runs from Steele City, Nebraska to storage and distribution facilities in Cushing, Oklahoma.

Phase 3: The Gulf Coast Extension

Construction on the Cushing Marketlink project started in the summer of 2012 and was commissioned in January of 2014. This project carries crude oil from Cushing, Oklahoma to oil refineries in Port Arthur, Texas. The Houston Lateral project construction began in 2013 and is expected to be completed later this year.

Phase 4: Keystone XL

Phase four of the Keystone Pipeline system would carry crude oil between Alberta and Steele City, Nebraska with a route that would run through Baker, Montana in which light crude oil from the Williston Basin located in Montana and North Dakota would be added to the output of crude oil.

The proposed Keystone XL pipeline has been met with criticism from environmentalists and for good reason. The crude oil that runs through the pipeline is harvested from tar sands in Canada. “Producing crude from oil sands emits an estimated 17 percent more greenhouse gases than traditional oil drilling in the U.S.” “There are other pipelines that can move oil sands crude, but there’s not enough capacity for all the oil being produced in Alberta. Producers in Canada are pursuing transporting oil sands by rail cars, even though it is more expensive than moving it by pipeline.” The issue is that people are mainly concerned about making money, not about what is good for the surrounding environment, and the communities impacted by the building of this pipeline.  The Petroleum industry is widely known for environmental disasters including oil spills, harmful emissions, and air and water pollution from an extensive amount of chemicals used and the Keystone XL will most likely prove to be no different.

According to an article in the National Wildlife Federation, “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.” (Maestas) Our best chance to attempt to lessen global climate change is clean energy and using renewable resources and clean fuels. “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.” (Maestas) Communities that live near tar sands and massive oil refineries are already experiencing health risks due to the pollution and harmful emissions that are emitted from these areas. Along with humans, dozens of wildlife species are also at risk, and have no way of knowing that their habitats will soon either be destroyed in the wake of construction or as a result of pollution fouling the surrounding water and air. I think Aislinn Maestas sums it all up by saying “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.” Are you guys for or against the implementation of the Keystone XL pipeline? Do you think the construction of the pipeline and the use of tar sands will have a hugely negative impact on the environment?

  Information about Phases of Keystone Pipeline found at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Pipeline

Other great articles about Keystone Pipeline/Dirty Fuels:

http://www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/Media-Center/Reports/Archive/2010/Tar-Sands-Staying-Hooked-on-a-Dirty-Fuel.aspx