The idea for the Keystone XL (KXL) Pipeline by TC Energy was originally proposed in 2008, with the intention of transporting 830,000 barrels of tar sand per day 1,200 miles from Canada to Nebraska. Due to the high oil prices at the time in both countries, and the potential profits, investors were eager to contribute to the budget of $200 billion.
This was to be an extension of the energy company’s existing pipeline to dramatically increase the transportation of what is considered to be the dirtiest fossil fuel on the planet. Tar sands contain bitumen, are sludgy and sticky, and are the farthest thing to being a friend of the environment. So, as you can imagine, environmentalists were not in the least bit enthused about this extension to a pipeline that they were already incensed about.
The local inhabitants where the tar sands were mined, the First Nation people, understood firsthand the devastation left in the wake of this process with wildlife habitats destroyed, freshwater sources polluted, pools of toxic ponds left behind, and a carbon footprint that was hazardous to human and animal health alike.
As far as the indigenous rights groups were concerned, the Keystones XL Pipeline was a non-starter and they were determined to battle the multinational company to protect the very nature that they valued. They understood, from the very beginning, that the damage caused by the tar sands was not limited to the leftover byproducts left behind in its wake. Being any incredibly corrosive substance, the likelihood of a leak somewhere along the proposed 1,200 miles of the KXL pipeline was extremely high.
Indeed, the existing pipeline had already leaked over a dozen times already, spewing gallons of the toxic substance into the surrounding environment each time until it was detected and fixed. If this were to happen along the newly expanded KXL pipeline route that traversed rivers, sensitive agricultural areas that farmers and communities depended on, and into Nebraska’s Ogallala Aquifer that provides millions of gallons of drinking water, the effect would be absolutely devastating.
Everyone who understood the consequences of the high probability of leaks occurring somewhere between point A and point B, from climate activists, Native communities in Alberta, farmers, landowners, and everyday citizens, protested relentlessly for 10 arduous years, including outside the White House itself where 1,200 of the protesters were arrested for civil disobedience.
Bowing to this kind of pressure, and negative press exposure, TC Energy decided that the loss of more than $8 billion already invested was a small price to pay to walk away from the Keystone XL pipeline extension and the controversy.
Despite relenting to this opposition, TC Energy still tried to restart the project in 2012, spending $720 million on court costs alone and was close to success with industry-friendly politicians championing their cause – only to have the bill shot down in 2015.
The Trump administration in 2017 gave the KXL pipeline a ray of hope when permits were granted by the executive order of the President, an executive order that was quickly defeated by lawsuits brought by the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council).
Further attempts to revive the stalled project were futile and the writing was on the wall when Joe Biden won the Presidency. Determined to uphold his campaign promise, he finally canceled the project once and for all, leaving behind the damaging toxicity of fossil fuels, and embracing a future that runs on greener, cleaner energy that won’t cost the earth.