Romney Disregards Keystone Pipeline Facts

Per a Cornell University Global Labor Institute (GLI) 2012 report: Debates over proposed tar sands pipelines such as the Transcanada Corporation’s Keystone XL has given little attention to the negative impact of pipeline spills. Tar sands oil is different than conventional oil; it has many different properties that may increase the frequency of pipeline spills and recent experience has demonstrated the spills pose additional dangers to the public and present special challenges in terms of clean up. An independent analysis of historical spill data concluded that Keystone XL could, over a 50-year period, generate up to 91 major spills. The proposed route for the 1,700-mile pipeline will transport more than 830,000 barrels of tar sands oil per day, cut through 6 US states (Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas) and cross 1,748 bodies of water, including the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, and the Ogallala and Carrizo-Wilcox aquifers. This is America’s agricultural heartland, where farming, ranching and tourism are major employers and economic engines. Ground or surface water contamination in this region could inflict significant economic damage, causing workers to lose jobs, businesses to close, residents to relocate and negatively impact the health of residents and their communities. Between 2007 and 2010 pipelines transporting tar sands oil in the northern Midwest have spilled 3 times more oil per mile than the US national average for conventional crude. Since the initial Keystone 1 pipeline began operation in June 2010, at least 35 spills have occurred in the US and Canada; in its first year, the US section had a spill frequency 100 times greater than Transcanada’s forecast. In June 2011 federal pipeline safety regulators determined Keystone 1 was a hazard to public safety and issued Transcanada a corrective action order. GLI estimates that construction of Keystone XL would create between 33,000 and 44,000 person years of employment; between 30 and 40% of the job numbers estimated by Transcanada (the January 2012 State Department’s Report to Congress following the presidential permit denial also concluded that the numbers were inflated). 

On April 18, 2012 Ryan voted for HR 4348 - Extension of Surface Transportation Funding and Approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline; September 6 Transcanada proposed a new route for the pipeline. Now, you can believe the Republicans (motivated by greed) about the job numbers and underscored risks of the pipeline or you can believe the experts (motivated by a concern for our safety).