It鈥檚 a landmark decision. President Barack Obama is now as the first world leader to cancel a major infrastructure project because of its impact on climate change. But the Keystone XL pipeline 鈥� proposed to carry Canadian oil through the US 鈥� may have been doomed by the US oil industry itself, as much as the environmental movement.
Whatever the cause, it should mean that the atmosphere can breathe a sigh of relief. An analysis last year found that the pipeline鈥檚 construction would result in about 110 million tonnes of extra carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere each year. That鈥檚 not enormous, but it鈥檚 a bigger reduction in emissions than will result from many other regulations that .
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The pipeline would have transported the dirtiest and most expensive type of petroleum 鈥� that from tar sands 鈥� from Alberta, Canada, to US refineries in the Gulf of Mexico. A large movement of people campaigned for it to be cancelled, and last week Obama announced it would not go ahead.
Taking credit
Environmentalists around the world are taking credit for the decision 鈥� and with plenty of justification. that the US was going to 鈥渓ead by example鈥� on climate change, and that meant 鈥渨e鈥檙e going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground鈥�. This strongly echoed the words of environmentalists around the world such as Bill McKibben, co-founder of climate campaign group .
In a statement, McKibben said that the decision 鈥渆loquently confirms the five years and millions of hours of work that people of every kind put into this fight鈥�.
And May Boeve, executive director of 350.org, drew the connection with activism clearly. 鈥淢ore than anything,鈥� she said, 鈥渢oday鈥檚 decision affirms the power of social movements to enact political change, and a clear sign that our movement is stronger than ever.鈥�
Indigenous peoples fought the campaign tirelessly too. 鈥淭he President鈥檚 decision is a clear affirmation of our struggle to defend the sacredness of Mother Earth and to protect the future generations of all our relatives, human and non-human alike,鈥� said of the Indigenous Environmental Network in Bemidji, Minnesota.
But many of Obama鈥檚 words in the announcement were dedicated to the lack of benefit that the pipeline would have brought the US, and in a report to Congress on the decision, climate change wasn鈥檛 mentioned once.
In particular, Obama said that the backers of the pipeline promised it would bring lower fuel prices and energy security. But he pointed out that oil prices were dropping already and the US was relying less and less on oil from 鈥渦nstable parts of the world鈥�.
Oil boom
Those trends are largely a result of the domestic oil boom. Since 2008, when Obama started considering the pipeline proposal, , largely as a result of shale oil.
In , the administration points out that that there is already an excess of cross-border pipeline capacity, and what鈥檚 needed are ways of getting oil already in the US down to the refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. It says other pipelines that are being built, increased rail transport, and expansions and reversals of existing pipelines will allow that, without approving the Keystone XL pipeline.
All that combined suggests the US is swimming in oil and doesn鈥檛 need a pipeline that environmentalists have successfully made politically toxic. The trick now for activists is to stop new fossil-fuel infrastructure, even when it is hard for a government to do so.
And maybe this victory could be the shot in the arm the movement needs. Boeve of 350.org thinks so: 鈥淲e鈥檙e looking to build on this victory, and show that if it鈥檚 wrong to build Keystone XL because of its impact on our climate, it鈥檚 wrong to build any new fossil-fuel infrastructure, period.鈥�
(Image credit: AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
