Keystone XL Pipeline Mapping Project

ORIGINAL: Keystone Mapping Project

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The Keystone Mapping Project provides the public with detailed route information for the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. Neither TransCanada Corporation nor the U.S. Department of State (DOS) have been forthcoming with this project’s GIS information. This has made it impossible to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Overview

The Keystone XL is part of the Keystone Pipeline System proposed by TransCanada in 2005 to deliver synthetic crude oil and diluted bitumen (tar sands oil) from Alberta, Canada to Houston, Texas in the United States. The proposed route from the international border between the United States and Canada will run through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

The lead agency in the United States for approval of this project is the DOS, who published the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Keystone XL on their website in 2011.

Conspicuously missing from the FEIS are the location data for the pipeline milepost markers (MP). The MP markers are critically necessary for the interpretation of the FEIS. They are repeatedly referenced throughout both the project and DOS documents and are key reference points for all discussions of the pipeline route, potential environmental impacts, and surrounding points of interest.

Oil Pipeline Routing Data are Public Information

Federal and state agencies consider oil and gas pipeline GIS data to be public information. Such agencies include the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the US Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration(PHMSA), the Texas Railroad Commission, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, and the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Difficulty in Obtaining Data

Regardless of the fact that the GIS data are necessary to evaluate the FEIS, neither TransCanada nor the DOS will release the Keystone XL GIS data. The data found on this site were obtained from these sources.

TransCanada employees give disparate reasons for not making the GIS data available, the most common being that pipeline data is a Homeland Security issue (this from a Canadian company). More frankly, some TransCanada engineers have referred me to the company’s Community Relations department. Community Relations claims that only general maps are available for proposed routes. This indicates that, by design, proposed routes are not intended to be reviewed.

Calling into question the thoroughness of the evaluation of the FEIS is the government’s claim that I am the only person in the country to request the MP data. The information is considered to be sensitive and, as the project has officially been denied by the President, the DOS does not feel obligated to release it. President Obama undermined this position when he recently voiced support for construction of the southern portion of the route from Cushing, Oklahoma to Port Arthur, Texas. By approving this key segment of the pipeline, the President has clearly signaled his imminent approval of the entire Keystone XL pipeline and delivery of tar sands oil to our southern ports.

The lack of transparency by both the project’s sponsor and the DOS, calls into question the process leading to approval of the FEIS and, thus, the viability and true consequences of the Keystone XL itself.

Freedom of Information Request Act Request

I have filed a FOIA request and will make more data available as I receive it.

- Thomas Bachand

Author & Photographer

http://www.thomasbachand.com

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Tell the Obama Administration: Don't "XL" climate change. Reject the Keystone XL Pipeline!

ORIGINAL: Credoaction

In the same week that record June heat blanketed the country, a massive summer storm wreaked havoc from Indiana to Washington, and the biggest fire in Colorado's history continued to burn out of control -- President Obama doubled down in his support for the energy that is causing this deepening climate change spiral.

Last week, the Obama Administration approved the first portion of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline,(1) gave away 750 million tons of publicly owned coal to Peabody Energy for virtually nothing,(2) and promised to lease more Arctic offshore areas for oil drilling.(3)

Now, the Canada-to-Oklahoma portion of the Keystone XL pipeline - which would turn up the spigot on deadly, "game over for the climate" tar sands production - is back before the State Department after being rejected by President Obama earlier this year when Republicans tried to force his decision.

Without the pressures of the election, President Obama could very conceivably cave if he is the one making a decision in 2013. This public comment period is our opportunity to go on the record, before the election, with our fierce opposition. And to stop the administration from making another terrible decision.

Tell the Obama Administration: Reject the Keystone XL tar sands Pipeline

Today's weather is a scary prelude of things to come. And it's clear that our leaders can't take the heat.

Our leaders are simply not confronting the abundantly obvious, terrifying realities of escalating climate change. The present Congress is simply hopeless. And the Obama administration is mostly hapless. Many policies are only further dooming our future. We can't depend on our leaders. But we can take action.

We must make sure the State Department considers the full climate impacts of Keystone XL when determining if it's in our national interest. If they do that, there's no way they'll approve it.

Stopping Keystone XL won't reverse the spiral of our heating climate. But as one of the single largest projects to turn up the spigot on the dirtiest form of energy in the world, it will stop us from making the problem much worse for our future. And so we must stop it.

Tell the Obama Administration: Reject the Keystone XL Pipeline. Submit a comment now.

1. Keystone XL Pipeline Segment Approved By Tulsa, Oklahoma Group ," Huffington Post, 6/29/12

2. BLM 'Auctions' 720-Million-Ton North Porcupine Coal Tract To Single Bidder For $1.10 A Ton ," ThinkProgress, 6/29/12

3. 5-year drilling plan to tap Alaska, Gulf of Mexico ," San Fancisco Chronicle, 6/28/12

Canada’s Killing Environment Laws

ORIGINAL: Earthjustice

GUESS WHO? Right now there is a country whose government - engorged on tar sands money – is trying to silence its critics by quashing citizen participation in environmental decision-making, attacking the nonprofit status of NGOs, and rolling back environmental laws. Sounds like Russia? Iran? Nope. It’s Canada.

The Canadian government, under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is actively trying to weaken the country’s major environmental protections—taking aim at fisheries, endangered species, clean air and water. While we are used to seeing corporations lead the charge here in the U.S., it’s the executive branch in Canada that is out in front this time. Ultimately, with the collusion of the fossil fuel industry, they plan to quash citizen participation and oversight and ram through environmentally-destructive projects to exploit Canada’s dirty energy resources.

In response, Earthjustice is standing in solidarity with environmental groups across the U.S. and Canada to publicly condemn this impending calamity. We’re asking our supporters to send a letter to President Obama and Prime Minister Harper condemning the Canadian government’s actions. Here’s the link:

https://secure.earthjustice.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1293. 

Click “LIKE” or “SHARE” if you agree that Canada should set an example as a democratic country committed to environmental values rather than a regime ruled by dirty fossil fuel money.

The Canadian Oil Sand Mines Refused Us Access, So We Rented This Plane To See What They Were Doing

ORIGINAL: Business Insider

Robert Johnson

May 18, 201

When reaching out to Alberta oil sands companies before a trip to Canada last month I thought all of them mined oil the same way — they don't.

The open mining most people think of when they picture the oil sands is just one way of extracting crude from the ground, but it is without a doubt the most dramatic. And we had to see it.

Check out the pictures >

After being refused a mine tour and any type of access to a mining site or equipment, Business Insider rented a plane that I used to see everything I could of the mines on my own.

Restricted to flying no lower than 1,000 feet above the ground, I spent nearly two hours leaning out the window of a small Cessna 172 with a long lens, snapping pictures and trying to keep warm.

The oil sands hold up to two trillion barrels of oil spread over more than 54,000 square miles, making it the second largest oil deposit in the world after Saudi Arabia.

The amount of energy spent recovering that oil and the pollution created in refining it is immense and the impact on the environment profound.

Limiting that impact is important as oil companies are required by law to return the land to its original condition when they're done mining, but the amount of time required to do that has long been criticized.

Today's environmental focus at the mining companies is figuring out how to get the land back to its original state more quickly and efficiently.

And that is something that everyone who lives and works near the oil sands would be happy to see.

It used to be that people would come to work the mines for a couple of years and go back where they came from. That is changing as people put down roots and raise their children and grandchildren.

About 140,000 people are involved in working the oil sands with 100,000 more jobs expected in the next five years.

So, no matter how you feel about the oil sands or the burning of all that oil, you can be sure that as long as there's a market for it and people need jobs, the oil companies aren't going anywhere.

I also need to extend a sincere thanks to former oil sands worker Mike Pearson whose experience and insights proved invaluable.

More pictures of our oil sands trip can be found here on Flickr.

To get a look at the oil sand mines we rented this Cessna 172 which the pilot was allowed to bring down to 1,000 feet — from there, through the open window and with a long lens we were able to see what really goes on in one of the most controversial places on the planet

Robert Johnson — Business Insider

The Alberta oil sands are spread across more than 54,000 square miles but we're taking a look at just a small part of that — the red line is an approximate outline of the entire deposit — the green is where we'll be flying

Google Maps

Most of the Athabasca oil sands lie just north of Fort McMurray — the small city is bordered on the east by Rt 63 — the Clearwater River to the west and the south— and the Athabasca River to the north

Robert Johnson — Business Insider

A lot of the oil money stops here first — this is Suncor Oil's recently remodeled $180 million Community Leisure Center — it's set to receive another $117 million expansion in September 2012

Robert Johnson — Business Insider

Housing is tough to find, and expensive, averaging about $770,000 — the newly built apartments at the top were abruptly condemned forcing police to evict tenants without their belongings one night last winter

Robert Johnson — Business Insider

Just up the Athabasca River is Suncor's upgrader — this is one of the sites where the oil from the oil sands is converted into synthetic crude

Robert Johnson — Business InsiderCBC Link

This is done by heating the raw oil, called bitumen, in a process called coking and produces the smoke that hovers about the whole area and a smell that fills the cockpit of the plane

Robert Johnson — Business Insider

Here are some small piles of coke

Robert Johnson — Business Insider

And here is one very immense pile of coke waiting to be used or sold as fuel for smelting iron

Robert Johnson — Business Insider

After it's coked, the oil is "cracked" to break the heavy parts down into lighter more desirable petroleum products

Robert Johnson — Business Insider

Cracked, coked and lighter, what's left gets sent to a tower like this, where the inside is hotter at the top than the bottom, forcing dense material down and lighter petroleum products up

Robert Johnson — Business Insider

Then everything is exposed to hot, high pressure gas that removes even more impurities like sulfur

Robert Johnson — Business Insider

The sulfur would normally then be sold

Robert Johnson — Business Insider

But a glut in the sulfur market is keeping prices low, and in the meantime mountains of it continue to grow

Robert Johnson — Business Insider

Once the oil is "upgraded" it will go to a storage tank like this one currently under construction

Robert Johnson — Business Insider

But that is all at the end of a process that begins here in the strip mine

Robert Johnson — Business Insider

This is how the oil sands have been harvested since 1967

Robert Johnson — Business Insider

There were only two companies working the sands in 1998 and local officials were concerned even those would be forced to close

Robert Johnson — Business Insider

But not long after that oil prices rose, the Canadian government restructured its royalty system, and new technology caused a huge boom

Robert Johnson — Business Insider

From small companies to conglomerates like Shell — each outfit starts off the same way

Robert Johnson — Business Insider