Members of Congress demand delay to Keystone pipeline approval

Concerns about Keystone XL pipeline include greenhouse gases from tar sands production and oil spills  

Spills from the existing Keystone pipeline that carries tar sands oil from Canada into the United States have been frequent, though mostly small. The most recent spill, at a Kansas pump station, was of just ten barrels of oil. A larger one involving 400 barrels occurred earlier in the year in North Dakota. But fear of spills is one of several reasons given by opponents to delay approval of the proposed new Keystone XL, which will carry oil from Alberta to Texas.

This week, 34 members of Congress wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging that the State Department hold off granting an international permit for construction of the new pipeline until a range of concerns is addressed. Concerns include the risk of spills, the impact of greenhouse gases over fifty years, the possibility of alternate routes and the need for the pipeline in the first place.

According to the members of Congress, the Department of State has not sufficiently addressed concerns raised by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Proponents of the pipeline are also vocal. A group gathered in Lincoln, Nebraska yesterday to argue in favour of the project, saying that if the pipeline is not built, the oil will go elsewhere, such as China. Others pointed out that the pipeline has a sophisticated electronic monitoring system capable of detecting a spill and shutting down the flow of oil in minutes. A spokesman for the American Trucking Association pointed out that fuel costs had now surpassed labour costs in trucking budgets, and that the Keystone pipeline was critical to energy security. The fact that the construction of the pipeline would mean 20,000 jobs in the US, 2,000 of them in Nebraska, was another reason to approve the project, supporters argued.

One common argument heard among supporters is that if the United States must import oil from foreign countries, better that it come from Canada than Saudi Arabia or elsewhere in the Middle East.