Keystone XL Delay 3 Times Longer Than Construction

Five years, four months, and fifteen days ago, the first application for the Keystone XL pipeline was submitted to the U.S. State Department by TransCanada Corporation. What could you have done in that time? You could have

…

• Watched the Super Bowl 12,000 times.

• Driven from New York City to Los Angeles and back 575 times.

• Worked on building a completed Keystone XL three separate times.

• Watched the anti-fracking documentary Gasland 26,500 times.

• Traveled to Mars and back four times.

What has the government been doing all this time? 

Because the Keystone XL’s proposed route crosses the border between the United States and Canada, its application is subject to an Environmental Impact Study by the State Department. The final approval authority is in the President’s hands. 

Last Friday, the State Department released its completed Environmental Impact Study which found approving or denying the pipeline’s construction would not have significant effect on greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, the Canadian oil will be produced and reach the market regardless of whether the Keystone XL is approved. 

Furthermore, the pipeline’s approval would substantially benefit the U.S. economy. Taking into account the economic benefits and lack of environmental effect, there is no reason to further delay Keystone XL approval.

Approving the pipeline would create jobs, both from constructing the pipeline and refining the oil. This is why the Laborers’ International Union North America (LIUNA) wrote the Keystone XL “will unlock good, family-supporting jobs for America at a time when families are losing their homes and desperately need good jobs.”

LIUNA is not alone in its belief. The State Department projects constructing the pipeline would support 42,000 jobs and add almost $3.5 billion to GDP.

The U.S. economy added only 74,000 payroll jobs in December, fewer than are needed to keep up with population growth, and far below levels necessary to return to pre-recession employment. There are still over one million fewer jobs than in December 2007. 

The Department of Energy projects the pipeline’s transportation capacity to be 830,000 barrels a day. Adding this capacity is necessary because energy production has been booming in North America and is outpacing insufficient pipeline infrastructure. U.S. oil production is at 7.7 million barrels a day—a 54 percent increase from 2008.

The President’s delay only affects the northern portion of the pipeline, which would run 1,179 miles from Hardisty, Alberta to Steele City, Nebraska. The southern portion of the pipeline, the Keystone Gulf Coast, began transporting oil 487 miles from Cushing Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast in Texas two weeks ago. This section was not subject to State Department review because it does not cross a U.S. border. 

President Obama rejected the previously proposed route for the Keystone XL last January because of perceived spill threats to Nebraska’s Sand Hills region and the Ogallala Aquifer—a major water source for the Great Plains. 

TransCanada recognized these concerns and proposed a different route. In January of last year, Nebraska governor Dave Heineman gave his approval to the reroute which avoids the Sand Hills along with other areas with fragile soil and shallow groundwater. Over a year later, President Obama has still not approved the new route's permit. 

Unfortunately, the Keystone XL is not the only energy investment stuck in the grueling federal permit process. Receiving federal permits for energy production (besides green energy) is difficult. Between fiscal years 2005 to 2012, the time it took to acquire a federal drilling permit rose from 154 days to 228 days. This created disincentives to energy exploration, and the number of new permits issued fell over 50 percent, from 3,514 to 1,729. 

It takes only ten days to secure a state drilling permit in North Dakota. There is little wonder the recent energy boom has taken place primarily on private and state lands. Only 37.8 million acres of federal land are now leased for energy exploration, whereas 131 million acres were leased in 1984.

Delaying approval of the Keystone XL in the face of economic and environmental evidence is misguided. It should not take three times longer to approve a pipeline than to build one.