NRDC questions State Dept.’s early release of DEIS for Keystone XL

WASHINGTON - Senior Attorney Susan Casey-Lefkowitz of the Natural Resources Defense Council wrote on her Blog on April 9 “the State Department (on April 9) made available on its webpage its draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The DEIS is oddly dated one week from now and it seems as though no Federal Register notice has been published. We can only hope that its premature release is a trial balloon and that initial reaction will be considered before the real publication occurs.”
NRDC contends that State should have waited for completion of a new White House guidance on incorporating greenhouse gas emissions impacts into environmental impact statements. And, State should have been taking a hard look at whether Keystone XL is in the national interest before investing in a draft EIS.
Keystone XL is a target of environmental groups because it will double the amount of tar sands oil currently being piped into the United States – of what will be bitumen, not syncrude. Much of the tar sands oil received in the U.S. is already refined to a synthetic crude, more like common oil. Bringing in the raw bitumen in the new pipeline means that the upgrading and refining has to take place in the United States, resulting in increased emissions of greenhouse gases, heavy metals, and other pollutants, say the environmentalists.

Study says Canadian oilsands pollution exceeds official estimates

EDMONTON, Alta. - An independent study suggests pollution from Alberta's oilsands is nearly five times greater and twice as widespread as industry figures say.
The study says toxic emissions from the controversial industry are equal to
a major oil spill occurring every year. Government and industry officials
say contamination in area soils and rivers is natural, but the report links
it firmly to oilsands mining.
"We found rather massive inputs of toxic organic compounds by the oilsands industry to the Athabasca River and its tributaries," said David Schindler, a co-author of the study. "The major contribution to the river was from industry."
The study, published Dec. 14 in the U.S.-based Proceedings of National
Academy of Science, also takes direct aim at Alberta's monitoring program.
"Our study confirms the serious defects of the (regional aquatic monitoring
program)," it says. "More than 10 years of inconsistent sampling design, inadequate statistical power and monitoring-insensitive responses have
missed major sources of (contamination) to the Athabasca watershed."
The report is the latest to question official figures and point out the industry's environmental costs - from acid rain to reduced songbird populations.
In the summer of 2008, Schindler's team set up monitoring stations on the
Athabasca and several of its tributaries. Some stations were upstream of both the oilsands and facilities, others were in the middle of the deposits
but upstream of industry and still others were downstream of both.
It found petrochemical concentrations did not increase until the streams flowed past oilsands facilities, especially when they flowed past new construction.

Keystone XL seeks U.S. waiver to allow higher pressure on line

HELENA, Mont. - Developers of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that will transport Canadian crude oil destined for Gulf Coast refineries are seeking an
increase in the federal limit on pressure within the pipeline. The developers say the higher limit would optimize the flow of oil.
TransCanada Keystone Pipeline of Calgary, Alta., wants to draw on up to 80 percent of the pipeline wall's strength, rather than the maximum 72 percent specified in federal regulations. The higher limit would involve certain pipe specifications and extensive testing, said Jeff Rauh, project representative for Keystone XL.
Notice of the request appeared in the Federal Register. The U.S. Department of Transportation, which includes the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, is accepting public comment on the proposal until Feb. 23.
The nearly 2,000-mile Keystone XL project with a pipeline 36 inches in diameter would start at Hardisty, Alta., enter the United States near Montana's Port of Morgan, pass through eastern Montana, continue through South Dakota and end near the Nebraska-Kansas border. There it would connect to a pipeline that is set for construction in 2010 and would end at Cushing, Okla. A proposed pipeline from Cushing would go through Texas, to the Gulf Coast.
A permit from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality is among requirements for building and operating the pipeline in Montana, where it would cross private, federal and state land. The state agency is taking public comment through March 6 and plans to join the federal government in preparing an environmental impact statement, the draft of which would be examined in public hearings.