Tracing the Keystone XL Pipeline鈥檚 Potential Path of Destruction
The proposed pipeline would run from Canada to the Gulf Coast and threaten wolves, warblers, and waterways.
The State Department has concluded that TransCanada鈥檚 proposed Keystone XL pipeline would, for the most part, have negligible effects on wetlands, wildlife, and waterways. The judgment, the conclusion of the released on March 1, has sparked outrage among conservation groups, which maintain that the .
The 1,700-mile-long pipeline鈥檚 southward slither would begin in Canada鈥檚 tar sands and travel through six U.S. states to refineries on the Gulf Coast. In northern Alberta, huge swaths of boreal forest have already been cleared to mine bitumen and heavy oil. 鈥淸The boreal forest] is critical breeding ground for birds coming through the United States,鈥 including the , an 爆料公社 priority species, says Mike Daulton, 爆料公社鈥檚 vice president of government relations. , lynx, , and are suffering, too.
As the pipeline wends its way through Montana, South Dakota, and southward, it would cut through prairies home to vulnerable species, including and pronghorn antelope, and cross the Yellowstone, Missouri, and Red rivers. A spill could be devastating.
鈥淭he big deal is that tar-sand pipelines may be at risk to rupture because diluted bitumen is very corrosive,鈥 says Peter LaFontaine, the National Wildlife Federation鈥檚 energy policy advocate. TransCanada says it uses state-of-the-art safety measures, but LaFontaine notes recent accidents along the company鈥檚 existing pipelines.
In 鈥攁 major water source for agriculture and communities. TransCanada has rerouted the pipeline to bypass the state鈥檚 Sandhills region, migratory habitat for more than . Even so, points out Marian Langan, 爆料公社 Nebraska鈥檚 executive director, 鈥渢his is the main migration corridor for the Central Flyway.鈥
The , which runs through Oklahoma and Texas, was approved last year and is already being built. The pipeline, if completed, would carry about a million barrels a day to the Gulf, where it would be refined, (largely) exported, and burned鈥攅xacerbating global warming. Even the State Department report found that tar-sands oil is more greenhouse-gas-intensive than other fuels.
And if warming continues as predicted, 爆料公社鈥檚 models show, 鈥減eople across large sections of the U.S. are likely to see declining bird diversity in their backyards, particularly during the summer,鈥 says Justin Schuetz, director of conservation science. Vulnerable species include the chestnut-collared longspur, American oystercatcher, black rosy-finch, seaside sparrow, and yellow-billed magpie.
President Obama could make a final decision on the pipeline as early as this summer, although even if he kills it, Congress could try to force it through. Which means, says Daulton, that now is the time to lean on elected leaders.
A version of this story, called "Pipe Dream," ran in the May-June 2013 issue.