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Keystone Pipeline Research Paper

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It is no secret that our country has a need for oil and that need increases everyday. We will do anything to feed this habit, including allowing big oil companies to ruin land by running oil pipelines. According to a report done by the United States Department of Transportation, there are currently more than 2.4 million miles of pipeline already in operation within the United States. Of that, 72,563 miles carries crude oil to a various number of refineries across the land ("PHMSA"). According to Jeff Brady, a NPR correspondent, and Scott Horsley, a White House Correspondent, if the Keystone XL pipeline were fully completed, “The Keystone XL pipeline would be able to move up to 830,000 barrels a day of crude oil” (par. 6). TransCanada commissioned the Keystone pipeline in 2010, and since then their record on oil spill is less than perfect. According to Janna Palliser, Assistant Editor of Science Scope, during the first year of the Keystone pipeline being commissioned; it “Has had 14 spills since operations began. Of these spills, seven were 10 gallons or less, four were 100 gallons or less, two were between 400 and 500 gallons, and one was 21,000 …show more content…

The Keystone XL Pipeline would be carrying oil from the Tar-sands, which emits 17 percent more carbon than other oil extractions (Brady and Horsley, par. 8). A report from the Sierra Club founded that, “an increase in tar-sands development could increase U.S. green- house gas emissions from 27 to 125 million tons by 2015” (Palliser, par. 8). The National Resources Defense Council reported that, “tar-sands oil also creates emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide, which contribute to acid rain (Palliser, par. 8). Allowing the construction of the Keystone pipeline would help increase production of dangerous oil, by giving a new pathway for increased

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