Keystone Pipeline Essay

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Keystone Pipeline
Keystone pipeline is an oil system that runs from the united states of America to Canada. The oil system was commissioned in the year 2010 and was owned by TC Energy. In March 2020, the project was being managed by the government of Alberta. The oil system runs from the Western Sedimentary Basin in Alberta to the oil refineries in Texas and Illinois. The pipeline system also runs to a distribution center located in Cushing, Oklahoma. The oil system is expected to transport approximately 800000 barrels of oil from Western Canada to the oil refineries in the United States of America. The keystone pipeline project has had various projects over the years, which increases the amount of oil distributed to various areas in Canada and the US. However, the project faced opposition from environmentalists during phase IV KXL.
The opposition was based on the concept of fossil fuels and climatic change. Following the concerns raised by environmentalists during Phase IV KXL, President Barack Obama delayed the project in 2015. In 2017, President Donald Trump permitted the project's completion, but President Joe Biden revoked the permit in 2021 (Listokin). Therefore, this paper will focus on the issues facing the project and the various environmental concerns. It will also analyze the project's economic impact and how it has affected the nearby areas' communities. A recommendation will be offered on what could be done to have a clean energy source in the US.
Environmentalists argue that the negative impacts caused by the pipeline system from Texas to Alberta exceed its intended economic benefits. The main environmental concern is that the oil system is intended to transport a damaging fossil fuel. Over the years, fossil fuels have been considered the leading cause of pollution in the environment. As the fuels burn, they emit carbon dioxide, which in tuns, pollutes the air. Such pollution has resulted in the death of many people across the globe. The current energy reforms are aimed at replacing fossil fuels with renewable sources of energy.
However, the project seems to be aimed against these energy reforms. It promotes the production of fossil fuels that will continue polluting the environment. The project has cost a lot of money, which could have been invested in creating a clean energy source. Environmentalists are concerned about the negative impacts of burning fossil fuels on the environment. The project's completion can be equated to adding approximately 5million cars to the US's streets. This indicates that the project will promote global warming, yet activists advocate for a reduction of the same. Therefore, a project that increases the number of fossil fuels being circulated is a threat to nature.
Tar sand is considered highly corrosive, which can be a threat to the environment and people. This is the kind of oil that will be pumped through the pipes. Over time, the oil would corrode the pipe, thus causing the risk of the oil leaking to the environment. Once the oil has been leaked into the environment, it can affect the quality of the air in the surrounding areas. The leaked oil would also harm animal and plant life as it runs off in rivers and forests. As well, the waste products of the tar sand are highly toxic. After separating the bitumen from the sand and clay, the remaining soil is highly toxic. Therefore, there are chances that the tar sand leaks and the remaining soil can end up on the earth's water tables. Some of the water tables serve large areas which are far away from the source of the leak. This indicates that the leak could affect people and plants living far from the pipeline oil system. The chances are high that an oil leak can affect animal and plant life many years after it has occurred. Once a lead has been detected, the nearby areas would be rendered uninhabitable due to the corrosive nature of the tar sand. However, this does not mean that the leaked oil will not impact plans and animal life (Wood). Once the leaked oil finds its way to the water table, it can cause water pollution, affecting large areas without being noticed.
In 2010, there was a concern that oil spills from the pipeline could pollute the Ogallala Aquifer, the world's largest water reserve. This water reserve provides water to approximately 2million people and the agricultural industry worth $20 billion. A leak from the oil system would pollute the drinking water and destroy the US's mid-western economy (Cooper). Therefore, the projects present a huge risk to nature in the event of a leak. The same risk could be incurred due to poor dumping of the soil obtained from the separation of bitumen from clay and sand. Environmentalists argue that a viable project should not endanger human and plant life. The Keystone project has a high potential of harming nature, and its completion ought to be evaluated.
The risk of oil spills for the pipeline has already occurred on several occasions. This raises concerns about the laid strategies to prevent future leaks. Given that the leak has occurred more than once, it indicates the project's inability to protect those living near the pipeline from oil leaks. In 2016, approximately 400 barrels leaked from the Keystone project, and the government claimed that a weld anomaly caused the leak. The project is expected to prevent any oil leaks from occurring because the leaks can have a devastating impact on animal and plant life. In 2017, another leak occurred where the pipeline leaked approximately 9600 barrels of oil. This amount is extremely higher from the initial leak, thus increasing the environmentalist's concerns about the project's safety. The leak occurred in farmland in South Dakota. The leak is the largest that has occurred since the beginning of the Keystone pipeline project. The leak could have contaminated the nearby aquifer, and this led to a shutdown of the pipeline. However, activities were resumed after 12 days. Several bodies investigated the matter to find out the source of the oil spill. The National Transportation Safety Board pointed out that the pipe damage had been caused by a vehicle that ran over the pipeline.
In 2018, a federal investigation pointed out that the oil leak has caused a spill of approximately 408000 gallons (Kojola). This amount was almost twice what the Canadian government had reported. Such is an indication of the lack of transparency in the management, thus raising more concerns about animal and plant life safety in the surrounding areas. In October 2019, another spill of approximately 9120 barrels occurred in North Dakota. The spill contaminated 5acres of land when the TC Energy company was in a hearing about whether to use water in building houses for the construction workers (Kojola). The source of this leak remains unclear, but some people associate it with attempts to hinder the oil system's construction. These oil leaks are a threat to nature and continue to raise concerns about the oil system's reliability in the future. The keystone pipeline system does not seem to have effective risk mitigation protocols in the event of an oil spill. Therefore, the damage that future spills could cause is uncertain. Environmentalists argue that the best option is to halt the project to prevent further contamination of lands and the possible loss of life.
Many people have protested against the project's completion due to the harm it would cause to the indigenous communities. Canadian Aboriginals and Americans have raised concerns about the possibilities of water, land, and air pollution that the project could cause. The indigenous communities face an increase in sexual violence cases from the man camps established in the region to facilitate the construction. In September 2011, various tribal leaders were arrested for protesting over the completion of the project. One of their activists claimed that the project could destroy cultural and historical resources across their land (cook). The project had already caused physical disturbance such as the displacement of people and the demolition of the property. Such would be a huge setback to the people as they rebuild their lives in new regions. The indigenous communities were also concerned about the health risks that the Keystone pipeline project could cause. Th...