State Department releases Keystone XL environment assessment

In an apparent Friday news dump, the State Department has released an environmental assessment of the Keystone XL pipeline. The Washington Post summarizes the 2,000 page report:

Canada’s oil sands will be developed even if President Obama denies a permit to the pipeline connecting the region to Gulf Coast refineries, the analysis said. Such a move would also not alter U.S. oil consumption, the report added.
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But the detailed environmental report — which runs close to 2,000 pages long — also questions one of the strongest arguments for the pipeline, by suggesting America can meet its energy needs over the next decade without it. The growth in rail transport of oil from western Canada and the Bakken Formation on the Great Plains and other pipelines, the analysis says, could meet the country’s energy needs for the next decade, even if Keystone XL never gets built.

The report made waves across Twitter, as Keystone XL activists, climate hawks and green journalists reacted to the news. A sampling:






NOTE: You can find some of those statements from analysts David references here, here and here.
















Tags: Tar Sands

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