Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline!

                In an article, “Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline,” published by Kathryn Savoie in November of 2011, Savoie discusses the damage that the Keystone XL Pipeline would create if approved.  The Keystone XL Pipeline spans the length of 1700 miles, and would transport tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada to the United States.  The pipeline would cross six states in America, and cost a large sum of 7 billion dollars.  The company behind the pipeline, TransCanada, needs the approval of the United States Department and for President Obama to grant the project a, “certificate of national interest.” 

                One of the main reasons that this project would be destructive to earth is because of tar sand, itself.  Tar sand is a thick, black substance, which serves as an unconventional petroleum deposit.  Tar sand can only be mixed with toxic lighter hydrocarbons in order to flow through a pipeline.  Savoie classifies tar sands as, “ecologically devastating,” and the project as “…one of the most destructive industrial mega-projects on the planet.”  Tar sands lie beneath the boreal forests in Alberta.  To extract oil sands, oil companies cut down trees in the boreal forests, then strip mine the soil beneath the forests.  The process of obtaining oil sands uses a lot of fresh water and natural gas to separate the oil from the tar.  For example, every barrel of oil produced uses four barrels of water.  The after effect of the extractions is huge toxic lakes.  The extractions link to “unnaturally high levels of cancer in surrounding communities.”  Residents living in the surrounding areas where oil sand extractions take place “have experienced rare bile duct cancers at a 30% higher rate than the general population.”  The pollutants that are released are “directly linked to asthma, emphysema, and birth defects.”

                Another important reason to deny TransCanada the permission to create the pipeline is due to it passing over the Ogalalla Aquifer, which is not only the largest freshwater aquifer in North America, but it also supplies irrigation water for one-third of the nation’s agriculture.  A concern of Savoie is that the creation of the Keystone would trigger the fatal overheating of our planet.  Savoie states that, “…a barrel of tar sands oil produces three times as much global warming pollution as conventional oil.”

 Studies have shown that if we utilized the tar sands oil completely, it would increase the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 200 ppm.  The current levels of carbon dioxide are 390 ppm, and desperately need to decrease by 40 ppm for a sustainable earth.  An organization that solely focuses on awareness of this issue is called the 350 organization, and is led by Bill McKibben.  The 350 organization, along with McKibben, Savoie, and many others, organized a non-violent protest in Washington, DC to demand that Obama refuse to approve the pipeline.  The protest took place from August 20-September 3, and planned to have 50-100 protestors.  On the first day of the protest, 70 protestors were jailed, including McKibben.  Overall, there were 1253 protestors arrested during the Tar Sands Action.