An Unhappy Birthday: Keystone XL Application Turns 5

It has now been five years since TransCanada made its first permit application to the U.S. State Department to build the Keystone XL. Under the permit, the firm would construct a cross-border pipeline to carry about 830,000 barrels of Canada-produced oil per day down to refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Most of that oil would be mined from the tar sands of Alberta. No decision has been reached on the current permit application—or rather, no decision has been announced. It’s fate is still guarded by the State Department and President Obama. Now, all manner of protests over the “dirty oil” coming from the Canadian tar sands are being held, with protesters supergluing their hands together in a human chain in TransCanada’s corporate offices, getting arrested in front of the White House, marching on Washington, and all number of other attention-grabbing stunts. A prominent slogan is that the Keystone XL’s approval would mean “game over for climate change.” This is overblown hype. But apparently it has President Obama’s attention. He even went out of his way to mention the Keystone XL pipeline in his speech this summer laying out his Climate Action Plan...more