The State Department has issued a Presidential permit for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline after considering “a range of factors, including, but not limited to, foreign policy; energy security; environmental, cultural and economic impacts; and compliance with applicable law and policy.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who is the former CEO of ExxonMobil, recused himself from the decision; ExxonMobil has invested in the production of crude oil.
President Trump, who signed an executive order reviving both the Keystone XL and the Dakota Access pipelines in January, announced shortly after that, “It’s a great day for jobs and energy independence.”
The project, which costs $8 billion, would create 3,900 jobs if completed within a year according to a State Department report. Although once completed, it would only employ 35 people along with 15 temporary contractors.
The pipeline, which is owned by TransCanada Corporation, was rejected by President Obama in 2015 due to environmental outrage. The pipeline was set to transport up to 830,000 barrels of heavy crude oil from oil sands in Alberta, Canada to Nebraska to be refined. The extraction of crude oil from oil sands would have, however, produced 17% higher carbon emissions than average refined oil as revealed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
The pipeline would also go through the Ogallala Aquifer which is one of the world’s largest underground water source. If the pipeline leaks, it would contaminate 4.9 billion gallons of ground water. The Aquifer spans eight states and produces $20 billion in food and fiber production each year. A pipeline burst would leave 2 million people without water.
The pipeline has aroused numerous protests with many claiming it simply isn’t worth the risk of accelerating climate change and threatening the water supply of millions. Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council has claimed,
“We’ll use every tool in the kit to stop this dangerous tar sands oil pipeline project.”
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