Keystone Pipeline Pros And Cons

The Keystone XL Pipeline: The Road to a Better America The Keystone XL pipeline, Trans Canada's newest proposed project, is an extension of the existing Keystone system that transports millions of oil barrels across the United States- Canada border to regions across the United States. Further extension of the oil pipeline would provide communities from Oaklohoma to Nebraska with the oil needed for people to live out their daily lives with the use of cars, ships and planes. Overall, the Keystone XL pipeline will shape America into a better, stronger and safer country, but before it can, the project must overcome the slow, political system of the United States government. Obama has to approve construction of the project before anything can …show more content…
The opposition believes that the Keystone XL project should be shut down immediately because of potential risks of oil spills that could detroy the environment. Greenpeace US executive director, Phil Radford states, “[d]espite what oil companies... want you to believe, oil pipelines leak. It’s what they do” (Sharp, 2013). They will assert that the pipeline runs through the first nations land and compromise their way of life. Bryan Brewer, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe says, “Keystone XL is a death warrant for our people” (Indigenous Environmental Network, 2014). Despite these claims, the Keystone XL pipeline should be approved, because the pros far outweigh the negatives. The pipeline could connect the United States to a reliable source of the much-needed natural resource, benefit the economy and keep the transportation of oil safe with little to no significant impact on the …show more content…
It is common knowledge that soceity uses oil as a part of their daily lives. Whether it be driving to work or carrying cargo across the ocean to London, England on a plane, the consumption of oil is a necessary part of life that will continue to exist until other alternatives are made affordable to the public. The debate is not about using oil, but how that oil is going to be transported. The main priority of this decision should be the safety of workers and oil by pipeline is the safest mode of transporting oil and according to the National Center for Policy Analysis, the fatalities and injuries associated with oil pipelines are significantly lower than that of oil by rail or road. Between 2005 and 2009, “oil pipelines had only 2.4 fatalities and 4.0 injuries per year”, whereas rail accounted for the same number of fatalities and 21.6 more injuries and road equalled an average of 10.2 deaths and 21.8 injuries per year (National Center for Policy Analysis, 2012). It is evident based on the National Center for Policy Analysis's data that oil pipelines, such as the Keystone XL pipeline, are the safest choice. The lives of Americans are at stake based on how Obama votes on the pipeline and the right thing to do is to choose the method that puts the least amount of people at risk. The Keystone XL pipeline should be built because it is the safest option, while posing no serious risk to the

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