Keystone XL is a pipeline to disaster

TransCanada’s safety assurances also fly in the face of a recent University of Nebraska report that details the worst-case scenario spill from Keystone XL. According to the report, a tar sands oil spill from Keystone XL into the Platte River in Nebraska “would form a plume of oil that could extend more than 450 miles, contaminating drinking water for people as far away as Kansas City, Mo.” A similar spill in the Sandhills region of Nebraska “could pollute 4.9 billion gallons of groundwater with a plume of contaminants 40 feet thick, 500 feet wide and 15 miles long.”

The other issue that Mr. Girling failed to mention in his July 14th blog post is that extracting, refining and burning tar sands oil for the Keystone XL pipeline produces 20 percent more carbon pollution than conventional oil. Building this pipeline would lock us in to a future filled with more pollution and fuel our oil addiction for decades to come, threatening our health, our environment and our economy.

{mosads}The only way to prevent the environmental disasters that have devastated places like the Yellowstone River and the Gulf Coast is by moving beyond oil.

Fortunately, President Obama has a historic opportunity to cut our oil addiction and put us on the road to a cleaner, more prosperous future. This September, his administration will propose new fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks and is considering making them as high as 62 MPG by 2025. This represents a major step forward in cutting our dangerous addiction to oil and would provide huge savings to American families by cutting the gasoline our cars need in half.

From Montanans living along the Yellowstone River to residents of the Gulf Coast region, Americans have seen firsthand the tragic costs of our oil addiction. Keystone XL will only worsen the problem. We need to bolster our economy, save consumers money, and cut life-threatening pollution by building cars that use less oil; not destroy our environment and weaken our economy by importing more.

Kata Collarulli is the associate director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Oil campaign.