Keystone Xl Pipeline Project

Georgetown University

The Keystone XL Pipeline project (Pipeline) has been fiercely debated since September of 2008 when TransCanada, the publicly traded power generating company, submitted its initial application to construct the oil Pipeline. There are a number of questions surrounding the project that have resulted in the delay of construction. The main questions pertain to the economic impact the Pipeline would have, the environmental impacts that would result from it, the issue of energy security here in the U.S. and one of the most important questions, why was the project put on hold during an election year? When one gets to the bottom of these questions it is understandable why there have been no developments in the project construction.

The original proposal for the Keystone XL Pipeline had it routed through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and finally to refineries on the Gulf Coast in Texas, according to a supplemental draft of the Environmental Impact Statement for the project from the U.S. Department of State. The Pipeline would be 36 inches in diameter and would stretch 1,380 miles, transporting up to 830,000 barrels per day of crude oil (Nerurkar, 3). The project would cost upwards of $7 billion, funded by TransCanada, with the U.S. portion accounting for $5.4 billion of the total cost, according to a report from the U.S. Department of State on September 19th, 2008.

Proponents of the Pipeline view that sum of money as a small price to pay in achieving independence from foreign oil, while at the same time creating jobs to help local and state economies. Opponents of the Pipeline would disagree and argue that it is a large price to pay for increased dependence on unsustainable fossil fuels, when we should be focusing our attention on sustainable energy practices. Weighing the pros and cons of any major decision, such as this project, is a large responsibility for any agency or individual, which is why there is so much oversight and a vast array of opinions.

The Department of State works in cooperation with a number of other agencies that have jurisdiction or a special expertise pertaining to the environmental impact associated with the project, such as, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), the Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS), the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management, the Department of Energy's Western Area Power Administration, as well as state environment agencies (Nerurkar, 8). These agencies work together to gather enough information for the Department of State to determine if the XL Pipeline project is in the national interest.

Since the Keystone XL Pipeline connects the United States with a foreign country, it requires executive permission, which is granted through the Presidential Permit (Nerurkar,