IT鈥橲 a green way to be bad for the environment. Canada鈥檚 tar sand oil is far more polluting than the conventional kind, but the controversial Keystone XL pipeline is the cleanest way to get it to market.
聯The controversial pipeline is the cleanest way to get Canada鈥檚 highly polluting tar sand oil to market聰
If Keystone is built, it will carry crude oil from Canada鈥檚 tar sands to refineries on the US Gulf coast. The draft assessment of the pipeline鈥檚 environmental impact, published last week by the US Department of State, compares it with carrying the oil to Oklahoma by train and then piping it the rest of the way, or shipping it the whole way. Both would produce more greenhouse gases 鈥� 8 and 17 per cent, respectively.
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Scrapping Keystone, says the DoS, would only cut Canadian oil sands production by 0.4 per cent by 2030, because the oil would be exported by other routes to the US or further afield.
But the real problem is that we are exploiting tar sands at all, says Kevin Anderson of the University of Manchester in the UK. Tar sand oil is far dirtier than conventional oil, so generates between 10 and 20 per cent more greenhouse emissions.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淕reener dirty oil鈥�
