The Keystone pipeline is a project of a Canadian company that consist of creating an oil pipeline of 2,000 miles from Alberta, Canada to Gulf Coast of Texas, United States in January 2014. Another leg of pipeline have been installed already from Cushing,Oklahoma to Texas (1,700 miles).
The purpose of these pipelines is to carry unrefined oil to the refinery industries.The production is expected to be 700,000 to 830,000 barrels of oil a day from the Canadian soil.
According to TransCanada (The company in charge of the pipelines) the pipeline is to create approximately 500,000 jobs from the Canadian and American side. This number is for some, unrealistic. From the American side, the expected number is 20,000 jobs.
In March 2013, however, the State Department report stated that, the pipeline would create up to 42,000 jobs, including 3,900 construction jobs. Later on in July 2013, this report was refuted by President Obama who claimed that the actual number of jobs would only be around 50 to 100.
One concern of the environmentalists is the use of tar sands, which is a mixture of clay, sand, water and oil. Tar sands is said to be more corrosive than conventional oil prompting them to say that there is a high risk of pipelines leaks. However, all the incidents observed at the pipelines where not from leaks but valves and pump station, nevertheless we cannot ignore that these pipelines had contaminated the environment with oil.
In March 2013, in Mayflower, Arkansas, there was a tar-sands spill caused by a pipeline that burst. The consequence was more than 12,000 barrels of oil down residential streets and nature.
The Pipelines might be a be a good way to transport oil and create jobs but the environmental consequences and risks are bigger than what we would gain from them. I do not support the installation and use of these pipelines. If a more secure and respect of the code is followed, we might find better ways to transport the tar-sands.
http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/tag/keystone-xl-pipeline/
http://www.procon.org/headline.php?headlineID=005248
http://keystone-xl.com/