Keystone XL pipeline is no more. The much-discussed Keystone XL pipeline project has officially completed after years of protests and pushback from indigenous groups as well as conservationists and environmentalists. On Wednesday, June 9, TC Energy Corporation confirmed the closure of the Keystone XL pipeline project after the Biden administration suspended construction work following the withdrawal of presidential approval in January 2021.
The agency said it would now work with environmental regulators, stakeholders and indigenous groups to “ensure a safe end to the project and ensure its exit.” The project was the subject of many political and back-and-forths issues: the project’s permits denied by the Obama administration, then renewed by the Trump administration, and now revoked by the Biden administration. The Keystone XL pipeline was ready to carry 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) of oil from the Canadian province of Alberta to Nebraska in the United States.
The expansion of the pipes and infrastructure proposed as an expansion of TC Energy’s existing Keystone pipeline system, which has been supplying Canadian tan sand crude from Alberta to various processing centers in the United States since mid-2010. The project was controversial even before it came out. This project not only represents continued respect for fossil fuels, but it also threatens to have environmental catastrophic consequences. Tar Sands oil is thicker, more acidic and more corrosive than conventional crude oil, which significantly raises the risk of leakage.
In addition, the project will create destructive fuels the boreal forests in Alberta, under fossil fuels accumulate, destroy wildlife habitats and degrade traditional indigenous tribal lands.
Proponents of the project, on the other hand, say the pipeline will bring more money and employment to the area (although the State Department estimates it will only bring 50 full-time permanent jobs). Big Oil and its allies are mourning the decision to shut down the project, but it has been widely praised by indigenous groups, climate activists and environmentalists.
Anthony Swift, project director for the Natural Resources Defense Council of Canada, said in a statement, “Keystone XL was a scary idea from the start. The time has come to accelerate our transition to clean energy sources that will energize a prosperous future.” “This victory has alerted polluters and their financiers: shut down your fossil fuel projects now – or a relentless mass movement will stop them for you,” Kendall Mack, a campaign manager with Climate Advocates Group 350.org, told a news release.
