The Keystone XL pipeline would increase US carbon dioxide emissions by 27.6 million metric tons per year, or the equivalent of adding nearly 6 million polluting cars to America's roads.
Scientists last January reported new research findings that the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would damage the climate much more than previously thought or previously reported by a State department and industry impact reports. In effect, dramatically expanding tar sands production will lead to unsustainable levels of fossil fuel emissions derived from combustion of a particularly dirty form of oil. Oil Change International’s new report “Petroleum Coke: The Coal Hiding in the Tar Sands” reveals that current analyses of the impacts of tar sands fail to account for a high-carbon byproduct of the refining process that is a major source of climate change causing carbon emissions: petroleum coke-known as petcoke. Because it is considered a refinery byproduct, petcoke emissions were not included in U.S, State Department's assessment of the climate impact from tar sands production.
With carbon emissions worse than previously estimated and the national security arguments nullified, the Obama administration has every reason to deny the pipeline application - a decision consistent with national energy policy goals. The Administration's decision to green light or stop the pipeline will represent a defining movement in U.S. energy policy, and fossil fuel industry's influence over U.S. policy and politics.
