The Environmental Impacts Of A New Crude Oil Pipeline

The Keystone XL is a controversial oil pipeline extension that would travel from Alberta, Canada, to the United States Gulf Coast. The Keystone XL should not be built because of the damage it would cause to the environment. The oil would be found within tar sands that contain bitumen. The process of extracting the crude oil uses a lot of energy and causes a large amount of greenhouse gases. Many citizens, in Canada and the United States, are outraged because it can be detrimental to the surrounding land and wildlife. TransCanada, the company building the oil pipeline, has to receive permission from the United States government to begin construction. If the United States does not have the pipeline built and chooses to not use Canada’s oil, then TransCanada will have the pipeline built elsewhere and exported to other countries. There has been a divide between those in favor of the Keystone XL and those who are not. The Keystone XL would be able to provide the United States with a reliable source of oil, but it would also take the risk of faults in the oil pipeline and ruining parts of America’s resourceful soil. The Keystone XL will cause a negative effect on the environment and damage resourceful land; therefore, the oil pipeline should not be constructed.

The Keystone XL Pipeline is a proposed oil system that expands from Hardisty, Alberta to Port Arthur, Texas. Stretching 1,661 miles long and 36 inches’ wide the TransCanada pipeline would carry tar sands oil, one of the world's dirtiest fuels. The Keystone XL Pipeline would nearly double the amount of the amount of

The extraction of the bitumen rich tar sands usually entails heating the oil while in the ground so that it may be pumped up to the surface which can be dangerous and cause harm to the surrounding area. The refining of the oil can be even more dangerous to the environment because the tar sands requires a special process of refining that would create copious amounts of greenhouse gases. Many opposing the pipeline also believe that the pipeline would not be as safe as supporters say it would be. Looking at the Keystone 1 Pipeline, the “previous pipeline was said to be safe but leaked much more than anyone anticipated. ‘In its first year, the pipeline leaked 14 times, with the largest spill exceeding 21,000 gallons’” (Swift). TransCanada claimed that the first pipeline would be safe and that it would not leak for many years, yet the pipe still leaked and caused major damage to the surrounding area. This left those affected, as well as other concerned Americans, to wonder why they should trust the company with building another pipeline and why the company’s promises should be trusted again. Environmentalists and those against the Keystone XL Pipeline “also object

Have you ever imagined a world without oil because almost everything around you is made with it like plastic, food, gas etc. For example plastic is absolutely everywhere about 4-5% of the total us petroleum consumption is dedicated to the manufacture of plastic products. If we do not build the keystone pipeline how will we get our oil? Even though rails are slightly faster at transporting oil does not mean they are safer. Transporting oil by rails is more likely to explode or spill and if we continue to do so we will be wasting a ton of oil that could be used for our community. This brings me to my last

“In a few decades, the relationship between the environment, resources, and conflict may seem almost as obvious as the connection we see today between human rights, democracy, and peace (Nobel Peace Prize Medalist Maathai 2004).” A Canadian oil company that goes by TransCanada hopes to build an oil pipeline that would extend an enormous 1,200 miles onto an already gargantuan 2,600 mile long pipeline. Keystone XL represents just under a third of the entire Keystone project, and every other piece of pipe has been built and laid out. In fact, TransCanada 's pipeline system is already shipping hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil from the Canadian oil sands across the U.S. border -- and into Illinois (Diamond). The current proposal would take the pipeline on a journey all the way through to Texas. Extracting crude oil from oil sands would be enormously problematic for the environment as it causes the pumping of about 17% more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than standard crude oil extraction. Tar sand oil has levels of carbon dioxide emissions that are three to four times higher than those of conventional oil, due to more energy-intensive removal and refining processes (Friends of the Earth). The construction of the Keystone XL pipeline would stimulate employment, the effects would be temporary and the whole scheme would produce a negative long term outcome. The construction of the Keystone XL pipeline has caused

TransCanada, when asked about possible benefits of construction, stated on their website that, “Keystone XL is the definition of shovel-ready infrastructure project”. TransCanada went on to say that over 9000 hard-working Americans could be put directly to work with good-paying jobs because of the construction of the KeyStone XL Pipeline. Furthermore, while the pipeline is being created, it was estimated by TransCanada that “Over Seven million hours of labor and more than 13,000 new jobs for American workers will be created”. TransCanada goes on further, stating that “Pipelines are safe and environmentally favorable” and that they are committed to minimizing its environmental impact along the proposed route. But, TransCanada is only making these tantalizing promises in order to keep currently neutral noses out of the matter in an effort to reduce the number of naysayers of the project. In truth, the creation of the XL Pipeline is terrible damaging the environment while also hurting the proposed workers of the project.

The next major environmental issue of the pipeline is the indigenous populations. “Northern Alberta’s, where the tar sands oil comes from, people are coming under attack because of their operation of the tar sands in their livelihoods and cultural traditions.”5 Other people affected by this project are the people who live in communities downstream from the tailing ponds, “they have seen spikes in rates of rare cancers, renal failure, lupus, and hyperthyroidism.” “In the lakeside village of Fort Chipewyan, for example, one hundred of the town’s one thousand-two hundred residents have died from cancer.”5 So not only will this pipeline affect the people living around it but it will also affect the people working on it and living around the tailing ponds, wherever those may be located. With it traversing six U.S. states that means a lot of people could get sick and even die from a project that has so many issues with it before it’s even began to be used for its intended purpose.

With an increasing global population and ever industrializing society 's, environmental concern is rarely given priority over economic incentive. But what people fail to realize is that our environmental failures, and relative apathy about it set up a plethora of problems for future generations to deal with. One of the most important decisions president Obama will face in the next year will be whether or not to approve the building of the Keystone XL pipeline, a massively sized, and massively controversial oil pipeline that would stretch all the way from Alberta Canada, to American oil refineries along the Gulf Of Mexico. Despite the economic incentive present, the building of the Keystone XL pipeline should not happen because of the

Another issue that has arose would include the pipeline rupturing leaving us with an oil spill on our hands. Tar sands is the most difficult type of oil to clean up in the event it were to spill. Mainly because it is so heavy it would sink straight to the bottom of the water. A perfect example of a tar sands spill happened in Michigan’s Kalamazoo River in 2010 when approximately thirty-five miles of the Kalamazoo River was closed for clean-up until June 2012, when they had portions of the river re-opened. We can still see the effects it has had on Michigan because they have not fully cleaned all of the oil out of the river. The US lost about 1,100,000 gallons due to this spill, resulting 30 to 50 households to excavate the area and were told not to drink any of their water supplies due to all the highly toxins released from the pipeline rupture. To clean up all the damage from the spill at first it was around $585 million and was expected to rise by 20 percent more. The

“If completed and once processed, transported, burned, it would release 101.4 million metric tons of CO2 each year. Equivalent to the emissions from 29.5 coal plants or 21.4 million cars per year” (Dakota Access Pipeline: Top 3 Pros and Cons). Adding more greenhouse gasses is definitely something we shouldn’t do. This pipeline would worsen our climate once it begins to pump oil. The use of alternative energies could benefit our country through being energy efficient, cost effective, and people friendly. Furthermore, the use of trails to transport crude oil is another concern because explosions can occur, killing people and damaging habitats nearby. “Pipeline supporters cite the 2013 disaster in Quebec, Canada, where a train carrying crude oil derailed and destroyed downtown Lac-Mégantic” (Yan). Many support the use of alternative energy sources that would allow people to keep their lands as well as save the Earth. Help the

The environmental risks that come with such a massive pipeline to transport “tar sands” pose a threat on many levels. As a matter of fact the tar sands they are trying to transport are required to

Oil has been an important resource of energy in America “since the discovery of the Spindletop geyser in 1901. It drove huge growth in the oil industry in America. Within a year, more than 1,500 oil companies had been chartered, and oil became the dominant fuel of the 20th century and an integral part of the American economy” (History.com Staff). This had developed the construction of pipelines to move the oil within the country and offshore in coastal waters. Recently, the federal government approved the construction of a new pipeline that would be transporting crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois.

The Keystone XL pipeline is a pipeline that runs from Canada to the United States. It would travel from Alberta to the southeast part of Texas next to the Gulf of Mexico, so petroleum products can be transported around the world. This great project would supply petroleum demands and create many jobs. The only thing needed for this project to take off in 2015 is for President Obama to approve it.

There are many pros that come along with the building of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The pipeline will have a low cost, safe, and environmentally friendly effect if it gets put in (Energy Transfer, 2016). It also has many economic pros. It will create many new jobs and will also increase demand for those that manufacture steel pipes, pumps, and other materials that will be needed to build this pipeline (Energy Transfer, 2016). The pipeline will also have a great impact on different local services. Local economies will have a direct impact as the use of hotels, restaurants, and other services expand along the route. Local schools, roads, and emergency services be impacted positively as the pipeline will produce an estimated $55 million dollars annually (Energy Transfer, 2016). Nationally, the pipeline will have a great impact as well. The United States will become more energy independent with the addition of this Dakota Access pipeline. With the significant increase in the North Dakota Bakken, there needs to be transportation networks that are reliable

For every spill of oil or gas, it damages that ecosystem sometimes beyond repair or it takes it many many years to recover from it. That being said the North Dakota Pipeline is going to be one of the safest most technologically advanced pipelines in the world. Another controversy is that the Native Americans are claiming that the pipeline runs through some of their sacred lands and can possibly contaminate their water supply. The North Dakota Pipeline can be a very successful oil transporter but there also seems to be some drawbacks like it possibly running through sacred land, contaminating water, and the possibility of leaking or exploding and causing a major disaster for the people and animals that live