Questão de Língua Inglesa · CESGRANRIO ANP 2016 (nº 18)

Obama Rejects Keystone XL Pipeline
Why Keystone XL Is Dead

President Obama announced Friday morning that he has denied TransCanada's permit application to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline in the U.S.

"The State Department has decided that the Keystone XL pipeline would not serve the national interest of the United States," Obama said. "I agree with that decision."

Obama said America is a global leader on taking action on climate change, and approving Keystone XL would have undercut that leadership. Some crude oil needs to be left in the ground to keep the climate from warming further, and rejecting Keystone XL will help meet that goal, he said.

Among the reasons for rejecting Keystone XL, Obama said the pipeline would not make a meaningful long-term contribution to the U.S. economy, nor would it increase U.S. energy security or help to lower gas prices, which have already declined dramatically over the last year.

TransCanada said in a statement that it "would review all of its options in light of a permit denial for Keystone XL," including the possibility of filing a new permit application for a pipeline.

"TransCanada and its shippers remain absolutely committed to building this important energy infrastructure project," TransCanada CEO Russ Girling said in a statement.

State Department officials said at a news conference Friday that TransCanada is free to apply for a new permit to build a cross-border pipeline and it is up to the company to do so.

The $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline was slated to stretch 1,179 miles from east-central Alberta, Canada, to the Texas Gulf Coast. It would transport 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the Canadian tar sands to refineries near Houston. Proposed in 2008, the 875-mile section between the Canadian border and Steele City, Neb., needed State Department approval because it crossed an international border.

Other parts of TransCanada's Keystone Project between central Nebraska and Texas have already been built and are carrying tar sands oil to refineries along the Gulf Coast today. Environmental advocates have rallied against the unbuilt portion and urged the Obama administration to reject it, saying emissions from the production and burning of tar sands oil it would carry could worsen climate change.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calculated that the tar sands oil the pipeline would carry is highly damaging to the climate, emitting about 1.3 billion more tons of greenhouse emissions over the pipeline's 50-year lifespan than if it were carrying conventional crude oil. The production of tar sands oil releases 17 percent more CO2 into the atmosphere than the average barrel of crude oil produced elsewhere, according to the State Department.

"Construction of the Keystone XL pipeline would be inconsistent with stabilizing global warming below dangerous levels," Penn State University climate scientist Michael Mann said. "I am pleased that the administration has made good on their promise to take seriously the task of acting on climate by rejecting the construction of the pipeline."

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