Geography Essay:
The Keystone Pipeline is an oil system that when fully constructed will be the biggest oil pipeline system in North America. The Keystone Pipeline has many benefits and many disadvantages. There are several issues facing the Keystone Pipeline such as environmental concerns by environmentalists. The Keystone Pipeline not only benefits Canada’s economy but is doing a good job for the American economy as well. With all these issues facing the Keystone Pipeline, there are many solutions that TransCanada is putting into the Pipeline. Is the Keystone Pipeline beneficial or is it a waste of money?
The Keystone Pipeline is an oil system that stretches from Canada to the USA and is a proposed 875 mile pipeline project. It transfers and delivers approximately 830,000 barrels of oil per day. This project was originally developed by TransCanada and ConocoPhillips, but TransCanada bought ConocoPhillips interest and is now the sole owner of the Keystone Pipeline. There are 3 phases to the Keystone Pipeline with a fourth phase that is proposed. The Keystone Pipeline is considered the safest and most effective oil pipeline operation in North America. It
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Canada is benefitting because we are selling and exporting a lot of oil to the USA. The Keystone Pipeline positively helping the US economy and is boosting it. It provides cheap and affordable heating and helps out US and Canadian residents. The Keystone Pipeline is a cheaper and more effective way of transporting oil than transporting it through trucks and ships. Lac Megantic was a train carrying oil the crashed and harmed the environment massively. As well, Exxon Valdez was an oil ship that ran aground in BC and contaminated a lot of water and killed many animals. The Keystone Pipeline has it’s risks but there is less of a chance of it running into an accident than an oil ship or train and is safer for the environment and people living near
Thesis Statement: In the U.S, the Keystone XL Pipeline is doing more harm than good.
The Keystone XL is a controversial oil pipeline extension that would travel from Alberta, Canada, to the United States Gulf Coast. The Keystone XL should not be built because of the damage it would cause to the environment. The oil would be found within tar sands that contain bitumen. The process of extracting the crude oil uses a lot of energy and causes a large amount of greenhouse gases. Many citizens, in Canada and the United States, are outraged because it can be detrimental to the surrounding land and wildlife. TransCanada, the company building the oil pipeline, has to receive permission from the United States government to begin construction. If the United States does not have the pipeline built and chooses to not use Canada’s oil, then TransCanada will have the pipeline built elsewhere and exported to other countries. There has been a divide between those in favor of the Keystone XL and those who are not. The Keystone XL would be able to provide the United States with a reliable source of oil, but it would also take the risk of faults in the oil pipeline and ruining parts of America’s resourceful soil. The Keystone XL will cause a negative effect on the environment and damage resourceful land; therefore, the oil pipeline should not be constructed.
The Keystone XL pipeline would do little in reducing the United States dependency on Middle Eastern oil, which is actually goal established by president Obama for the sake of national security and economic growth. Another issue is that the out of the 42,000 jobs TransCanada has claimed the new pipeline will create, an analysis done by the State Department disagrees and claims “The proposed Project would generate approximately 50 jobs during operations.” All the harmful effects that the pipeline would have on the environment and the public health is not worth the creation of merely 50 permanent
The history of oil pipelines in the U.S. supports both sides of the argument, but in the end one must not rely on history to decide whether or not to implement such a controversial pipeline. The Keystone XL Pipeline could be beneficial to the US economy but the dangers to the environment must be weighed in order to decide if the new oil pipeline is necessary. We live in a world that is trying to switch over to renewable energy and help reduce global warming. The increased production of oil in the United States might not be needed even though it might be beneficial to economic
The Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project has brought forth many conflicting arguments, thus resulting in some parties being for it and some against it. I believe however, the risks are far greater than the rewards. The controversies surrounding the oil pipeline have brought up significant reports regarding environmental safety and concern with also safety and concern of the public. Due to the fact that presently, there is one operational pipeline running from Alberta to the Pacific Coast, I believe the introduction of a new pipeline would have disastrous consequences if something were to happen whether being an oil spill or a fire. The NEB (National Energy Board) failed to mention significant situations in which this pipeline could significantly
“In a few decades, the relationship between the environment, resources, and conflict may seem almost as obvious as the connection we see today between human rights, democracy, and peace (Nobel Peace Prize Medalist Maathai 2004).” A Canadian oil company that goes by TransCanada hopes to build an oil pipeline that would extend an enormous 1,200 miles onto an already gargantuan 2,600 mile long pipeline. Keystone XL represents just under a third of the entire Keystone project, and every other piece of pipe has been built and laid out. In fact, TransCanada 's pipeline system is already shipping hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil from the Canadian oil sands across the U.S. border -- and into Illinois (Diamond). The current proposal would take the pipeline on a journey all the way through to Texas. Extracting crude oil from oil sands would be enormously problematic for the environment as it causes the pumping of about 17% more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than standard crude oil extraction. Tar sand oil has levels of carbon dioxide emissions that are three to four times higher than those of conventional oil, due to more energy-intensive removal and refining processes (Friends of the Earth). The construction of the Keystone XL pipeline would stimulate employment, the effects would be temporary and the whole scheme would produce a negative long term outcome. The construction of the Keystone XL pipeline has caused
TransCanada, when asked about possible benefits of construction, stated on their website that, “Keystone XL is the definition of shovel-ready infrastructure project”. TransCanada went on to say that over 9000 hard-working Americans could be put directly to work with good-paying jobs because of the construction of the KeyStone XL Pipeline. Furthermore, while the pipeline is being created, it was estimated by TransCanada that “Over Seven million hours of labor and more than 13,000 new jobs for American workers will be created”. TransCanada goes on further, stating that “Pipelines are safe and environmentally favorable” and that they are committed to minimizing its environmental impact along the proposed route. But, TransCanada is only making these tantalizing promises in order to keep currently neutral noses out of the matter in an effort to reduce the number of naysayers of the project. In truth, the creation of the XL Pipeline is terrible damaging the environment while also hurting the proposed workers of the project.
The Keystone XL Pipeline Project has many pros and cons just as any project does, but this project has way bigger cons than most projects this country will face today. “The Keystone XL Pipeline is an environmental crime in progress.” “It’s also been called the most destructive project on the planet.” The major issues with the Keystone XL Pipeline are “the dirty tar sands oil, the water waste, indigenous populations, refining tar sands oil and don’t forget the inevitable; pipeline spills.” And these are just some of the environmental issues, not too mention how building this thing from Canada to Texas; 2,100 miles to be exact, is affecting the people and their land, as stated “this isn’t a little tiny pipeline,
With an increasing global population and ever industrializing society 's, environmental concern is rarely given priority over economic incentive. But what people fail to realize is that our environmental failures, and relative apathy about it set up a plethora of problems for future generations to deal with. One of the most important decisions president Obama will face in the next year will be whether or not to approve the building of the Keystone XL pipeline, a massively sized, and massively controversial oil pipeline that would stretch all the way from Alberta Canada, to American oil refineries along the Gulf Of Mexico. Despite the economic incentive present, the building of the Keystone XL pipeline should not happen because of the
TransCanada position in the need to build the Keystone XL Pipeline is that the increase capacity and route will allow it to supply crude to more refineries and ability to export for currently the pipeline has no direct access to a port. In addition, the pipelines shorter route to Steel City will shorten the delivery time. TransCanada position is that these reasons are justification of eminent domain. Eminent domain has been used for the building of pipelines for years and this pipeline should not be different.
What is the keystone pipeline and what does it do? The keystone pipeline is an oil pipeline that was commissioned in 2010. It runs from Alberta, Canada and then into refineries in Illinois and Texas and also to an oil pipeline center in Oklahoma. This pipeline is a critical project for the United States. The Pipeline consists of four phases. The first three phases have already been completed. The fourth phase failed to receive permits from the United States government in 2015. The project proposal for Phase IV from 2012 will be new 36-inch pipeline from Alberta and into Montana and then South Dakota to Nebraska. It will transport 830,000 barrels per day of crude oil to refineries in the Gulf Coast and other areas.
Building the pipeline is 3.8 billion dollar project. We could be doing so many other exceptional things with this money. Since 1995, more than 2,000 significant accidents involving oil and petroleum pipelines have occurred, adding up to roughly $3 billion in property damage (Associated Press from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials.) Right now the U.S. is 19.5 trillion dollars in debt. If we are going to be spending money, we should work on something we truly need instead of something that is optional and
First there are many pros and cons to the Dakota Access Pipeline, first we will look at the pros of the pipeline. If the pipeline does go through it will bring jobs, reduce imports form the middle east, and the production and transportation of oil will sky rocket. Once the pipeline is under construction there will be 8,000-12,000 new jobs for U.S. Citizens. Many journalists believe that Donald Trump will push to have the pipeline approved, trying to keep his campaign promises made in late September.
The Keystone XL pipeline is needed for the transportation of petroleum products and to help the great demand of petroleum products in the economy
For every spill of oil or gas, it damages that ecosystem sometimes beyond repair or it takes it many many years to recover from it. That being said the North Dakota Pipeline is going to be one of the safest most technologically advanced pipelines in the world. Another controversy is that the Native Americans are claiming that the pipeline runs through some of their sacred lands and can possibly contaminate their water supply. The North Dakota Pipeline can be a very successful oil transporter but there also seems to be some drawbacks like it possibly running through sacred land, contaminating water, and the possibility of leaking or exploding and causing a major disaster for the people and animals that live