So what is the Keystone XL pipeline?
830,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta, Canada,
down to refineries down on the Gulf coast. That's what the proposed Keystone pipeline would do.
But since the pipeline crosses the U.S.-Canada border, the White House gets a say in the matter.
Oil companies and the Canadian government want the pipeline approved. Alberta's tar
sands are rich with oil, but companies are having trouble shipping all that oil to refineries
who can turn it to gasoline and usable fuel. Building the pipeline would also create thousands
of temporary construction jobs, which may be one reason why the proposal polls well
in the United States. Environmentalists, on the other hand, want Obama to block the pipeline.
From start to finish, tar sands oil produces 17 percent more carbon dioxide than regular
oil does. And there's an enormous amount of oil up in the tar sands. That means more global
warming. Bad news. Better to leave the oil in the ground, green groups say.
President Obama, for his part, has said he won't approve Keystone XL if it has a significant impact
on climate change. But a recent State Department review may have given him some wiggle room
It argued that the pipeline might have an insignificant impact. That's because even
if it was blocked, most of the oil would just get shipped by rail anyway. Green groups are
disputing that analysis and the argument continues.