The Truth About Tar Sands

Sept 1st, 2011

The construction of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is likely a forgone conclusion. As much as I support the protesters who have put their freedom on the line in D.C. and as loudly as I have tried to draw attention to the potential hazards, this is only the latest stage of the largest energy project on the face of the Earth. Putting the brakes on now is nearly impossible.

The TransCanada corporation first proposed the Keystone project in early 2005, yet most Americans had never even heard the phrase "tar sands" until earlier this year. The accident prone first Keystone pipeline has been in operation for over 14 months and many still don't realize just how much more volatile the materials involved are than traditional petroleum.

Carrie La Seur wrote recently in Grist:

"Keystone XL won’t carry “light, sweet” crude, which floats on top of water and can be mopped up with absorbent booms. Bitumen—a tarlike substance mined from the Alberta tar sands, chemically diluted, and heated to improve flow—will travel at high pressure across Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas to Gulf Coast refineries. If and when it leaks into water bodies, this product will sink. To judge the risk of that happening, it helps to know that the first piece of the Keystone system, TransCanada’s Keystone I pipeline that crosses the eastern Dakotas, has sprung a dozen leaks in its first year of operation."

As La Seur notes, the XL phase of operations directly threatens the Ogallala aquifer. This very shallow groundwater network is the source for roughly 30% of U.S. agricultural irrigation and drinking water for tens of millions of citizens. A serious accident here would devastate not only the health but the economy of the United States for generations. 

Our failure to educate the public sooner through the kind of direct action now being engaged in Washington is a major contributor to the public's lack of awareness. That doesn't make pushback pointless. It makes it even more essential. 

We are literally running out of time.