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A pipeline protester walks in front of the White House.

CONGRESS

Keystone XL Pipeline: Just the Facts

by Olga BelogolovaUpdated: December 9, 2011 | 3:38 p.m.December 8, 2011 | 1:46 p.m.

AP PHOTO/EVAN VUCCI)

Demonstrators gather at a protest to demand a stop to the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline outside the White House on Nov. 6in Washington.

What is it?

The Keystone XL pipeline is a 1,700-mile, $7 billion project thatwould bring 700,000 barrels of carbon-heavy tar-sands oil per dayfrom Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Gulf Coast. It would bean extension of a pipeline that became operational in June 2010and already carries crude oil from Alberta to Illinois andOklahoma.

Whose is it?

TransCanada is the company hoping to build the pipeline. Underfederal law, the State Department makes the decision on thepermit for TransCanada to begin the project, because the pipelinewould cross international borders. However, if another federalagency raises concerns about the permit, the decision isautomatically kicked up to the White House. The Obamaadministration announced in November that it would delay adecision on the pipeline permit until an alternative route inNebraska is considered.

Why do environmental groups and someDemocrats oppose it?

Environmentalists are concernedthat the extraction and productionof tar-sands oil is much moredamaging to the environment andemits more greenhouse gases thanthe processes for obtaining andprocessing conventional oil. If thepipeline is built, it would greatly

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AP PHOTO/EVAN VUCCI

Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., speaks during a Nov. 15 newsconference on Capitol Hill to urge President Obama toapprove the Keystone XL pipeline.

expand the market for the oil, hastening its extraction andpotentially adding to global climate change, they say. Opponents ofthe project are also concerned with the impartiality of State'spipeline-review process. Cardno Entrix, a consulting firm thatcounts TransCanada among its major clients, completed theenvironmental impact review for the project. In addition, e-mailsuncovered through the Freedom of Information Act showed whatenvironmentalists said was a too-cozy relationship between aTransCanada lobbyist and a State Department employee.

Why do many Republicans, industry, andlabor groups support it?

Proponents of the pipeline arguethat it would not only createthousands of jobs in the UnitedStates during and after itsconstruction, but that it would alsoopen U.S. access to one of thebiggest oil reserves in the world,and slash our dependence on oilfrom overseas. If built, the pipelinewould bring 700,000 barrels of oila day to the U.S.—about half the amount the country imports fromthe Middle East. Republicans and industry proponents havequestioned President Obama for delaying what they call a “shovel-ready” project.

What happened?

After the State Department issued a final and mostlycomplimentary Environmental Impact Statement in late August,the administration was well on its way toward approving thecontroversial project. In fact, an overwhelming majority ofNational Journal Energy and Environment Insiders in Octoberwere sure it would happen. But activists had just begun to ramp upopposition and spent much of late summer and fall calling outObama on the project during campaign rallies and events acrossthe country. The culmination of all this came when thousands ofprotesters gathered in Washington in early November, forming aring around the White House and telling Obama that they wouldpull their grassroots organizing and donor support in next year'selection should the administration green-light the project. Inaddition, field hearings on the project elevated concerns fromNebraska residents about the pipeline’s proximity to the state’sOgallala aquifer, which supplies drinking water to 1.5 millionpeople. Nebraska’s government got involved and called for aspecial legislative session to deal with the pipeline.

The delay

Less than a week after the White House protest in early November,the State Department said it was ordering a new route for thecontroversial pipeline, delaying the administration’s decision untilafter the 2012 presidential election. The administration said thatthe decision was made to avoid the ecologically sensitive SandHills region of Nebraska, but Republican lawmakers and pipeline

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proponents have argued that it’s all politics—that Obama'sdecision was not in the nation's interest, but in his own politicalinterest.

Senate measure

Senate Republicans, led byMinority Leader MitchMcConnell of Kentucky andForeign Relations Committeeranking member Richard Lugarof Indiana, have introducedlegislation that would require theState Department to approve theKeystone XL permit within 60 daysor have the president explain why the pipeline is not in thenation’s interest. Lugar said earlier this week that he still hasn'tbeen able to get Democrats to sign onto the bill.

House measure

Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., last week introduced a bill aimed atspeeding up the final decision on the project by moving it from theState Department and the White House to the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission, which would then have 30 days to make adecision. If FERC does not take action within that time period, thepermit would then be deemed approved, according the measure.Terry said last week that House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio,promised to tie the measure to the broader payroll-tax holiday andunemployment package. Though Obama on Wednesday promisedto veto any such efforts, Boehner and Republicans have pressedon.

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