Pros And Cons Of The Keystone Pipeline

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The Keystone pipeline has been a controversial topic in among many Canadian and American debates, in that there are significant economic and environmental risks of building a pipeline across North America. The Keystone XL pipeline would add to the existing Keystone pipeline with the goal of pumping significantly more amounts of crude oil from the sands in Alberta down to the Gulf Coast. There are many supporters of this debate, but there are also many who are opposed to it. The building of the Keystone XL pipeline has many environmentalists and political activists across North America concerned about the potential problems associated with building such a large infrastructure. Although there are many benefits to building the pipeline, it is not in the best interests for the Canadian and American governments to continue to pursue such a costly and time-consuming project.
The environmental and political costs of this project are detrimental to Canada’s economic stability. Brendan Smith of The Labour Network for
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Emer Hughes, of the Heavy News, points out that one of the major negatives for the pipeline in the U.S. is that a rippling effect may contribute to global warming and could potentially damage GDP by 2%. Further, Hughes outlines that the emissions from the Keystone XL pipeline are equivalent to adding more than 5.6 million new cars to U.S. roads. The fact that building the Keystone XL pipeline may contribute to global warming is already a red flag. Canadian and American governments have been dealing with global warming issues for years, and contributing to this problem, by adding to the existing pipeline, is not a solution. Environmentalists and political activists against the Keystone XL pipeline have noted that global warming and increasing damages to local and national environments are likely to happen if the proposed pipeline is supported by U.S. and Canadian