Professor Ratcliffe
WRC 1023
28th February 2013
Accept Keystone with an Understanding Is the Keystone XL Pipeline really worth the risk? There are many Americans that believe so and there are just as many that don’t think so. Each side has their reasons and they are sufficient reasons backed up by liable sources. The Keystone XL Pipeline is a pipeline system that would transport crude oil for the Tar Sands in Alberta, Canada, through the continental United States all the way down the Gulf Coast. It is a total of seventeen hundred miles of pipeline going through six states (Washington Post). The Keystone XL Pipeline would carry seven hundred to eight hundred thousand barrels of crude oil a day (Washington Post). The Keystone XL Pipeline is such a controversy due to its possible effect on the environment. This is the leading issue against the pipeline. For those for it, it has to potential to be a surplus of positives. The Keystone XL Pipeline was denied by the Obama administration last year due to it’s mapped out road design for the actual pipeline (Miami Herald). The company, TransCanada, has re-mapped out the road design for the pipeline and this year the Obama administration will have to again make a decision to either accept or deny it. Americans need to see and understand that the pros of this pipeline outweigh the cons but that doesn’t mean we ignore the cons. The Keystone XL Pipeline is something that America needs, especially in this dire time of economic difficulty. The original road map for the Keystone XL Pipeline was directed through the Sand Hills of Nebraska (New York Times). This is why the Obama administration had denied the Keystone XL Pipeline the first time through. Many Americans, those who are educated in this situation, know that the risk of having an oil pipeline running through the Sand Hills of Nebraska is a risk no one is willing to take with the great Ogallala Aquifer running underneath it. So TransCanada went