That’s Malarkey
Keystone XL is a pipeline through the U.S., not to the U.S. The tar sands will be mined in Alberta, shipped through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma en route to refineries in Texas before the tar sands products are exported to countries like China and Venezuela. Because the tar sands products will be exported, Keystone XL will do nothing to reduce our dependence on foreign oil or make us energy independent.
The refineries that will process the tar sands already export 60% of their gasoline, and industry trends show that the exports will continue to increase with KXL.
Wall Street Journal: “Much of the crude oil flowing down the proposed Keystone XL pipeline would likely end up being exported as refined products by U.S. companies, a prospect that is further stirring debate over whether the project serves the national interest.”
Even TransCanada has acknowledged that Keystone XL’s tar sands products will be exported abroad.
When Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) asked TransCanada’s Alex Pourbaix to guarantee that Keystone XL would not be for foreign export and to make that a condition of their agreement with their shipping companies, Pourbaix replied, “No, I can’t do that. We’ve already agreed to our shipping arrangements.”
TransCanada will carry toxic tar sands through the U.S. en route to foreign markets. That’s not energy independence or national interest. That’s malarkey.
