State dept. announces Keystone XL schedule

The U.S. Department of State announced on Friday the remaining steps in the process of considering whether to approve the Keystone XL pipeline project, which would carry oil from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast refineries.

The department plans to issue a final Environmental Impact Statement in mid-August. This would be the third EIS it has issued. The first was rejected by the Environmental Protection Agency for not addressing most of the key environmental issues around the project. The EPA said the second version was somewhat better but still lacking in depth and analysis and even cited the results of last year’s spill of tar sands oil in Michigan as an example of the kinds of issues that the EIS should address.

Once the State Dept. issues their final EIS, there will be a 90 day period for comment by other federal agencies with an interest in the project, including the EPA and the Department of Energy. During that period, there will also be a series of meetings for public comment in the states through which the pipeline would travel.

Environmental groups appear to be divided over this announcement. The National Wildlife Federation seemed to praise the decision, saying in a press release, “For the first time, the agency emphasized that its review process takes precedent over an artificial deadline.” NWF senior vice president Jeremy Symons said:

“One has to wonder if the Yellowstone River oil spill has sent a wake-up call to the State Department. The secret toxins that run in tar sands pipelines like the Yellowstone River’s Silvertip should be disclosed to landowners and first responders at the meetings the State Department will hold. The Environmental Protection Agency has warned that it will not be able to assess impacts from these spills without more information. Until that happens, tar sands pipelines should be considered a danger to public health and wildlife.

“The oil companies behind this pipeline are desperate to rush the approval of this pipeline before the full cost to the environment and economy comes to light.”

Friends of the Earth, on the other hand, blasted the decision in a press release. Damon Moglen, climate and energy director at FOE, said:

“This is a foolhardy rush to judgment. The State Department cannot possibly address the many glaring gaps in its environmental analysis in the next few weeks, let alone consider lessons from the worrying string of recent pipeline spills. Moreover, a University of Nebraska professor recently found that TransCanada is giving U.S. regulators a wildly optimistic picture of spills the Keystone XL pipeline is likely to cause. Will the State Department simply ignore this new information and the many concerns voiced by the EPA and communities whose water and land is at risk?”

FOE notes that the first phase of that pipeline, Keystone I, has had a total of 33 spills in a little over one year of operation when it is brand new and should be free of corrosion and damage. 21 of those spills were in Canada, 12 in the United States.