14 DAY TRIAL // This past Thursday, the Carbon Tracker Initiative released a new report saying that, contrary to what the US State Department would have people believe, the proposed Keystone XL pipeline was bound to push climate change and global warming into overdrive.
According to these environmentalists, the pipeline will do so by facilitating the release of loads of greenhouse gas emissions into our planet's atmosphere, EcoWatch says.
As reported, it was at the beginning of this year's February when the State Department issued its Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement concerning said pipeline.
In this fancy-titled report, specialists working with the Department said that the project was unlikely to contribute to climate change and global warming. Hence, it should be approved.
The rationale at the basis of the State Department's report on Keystone XL is as follows: oil sands are to be exploited in the years to come with or without Keystone XL.
Besides, there is no evidence to indicate that this particular pipeline will up the rate of extraction, which is why one cannot claim that the Keystone XL will in itself be a contributing factor to climate change and global warming.
“It's unlikely for one pipeline to change the overall development of the oil sands. Climate changes are anticipated to occur regardless of any potential effects from the proposed project,” the State Department pointed out at that time.
The folks working with and supporting the Carbon Tracker Initiative do not see things quite like this, and argue that, on the contrary, the proposed Keystone XL pipeline will exacerbate the ongoing climate crisis.
More precisely, they argue that, according to their investigations into the matter at hand, Keystone XL-enabled tar sands exploitation will cough out the equivalent of 4.9 – 5.3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.
The Carbon Tracker Initiative estimates that these pipeline-enabled emissions will also be equivalent of the yearly greenhouse gas emissions of as many as 1 billion passenger vehicles, or the annual carbon emissions of roughly 1,400 coal-fired power plants.
Together with several other green-oriented groups, the Carbon Tracker Initiative is asking that US President Barack Obama do not give the green light to this project.
In fact, it is next month when a major anti-Keystone XL protest is to be held in Washington, DC. The protest is organized by the folks with the Cowboy Indian Alliance, and will last from April 22 until April 27.
“With his decision closer than ever, President Obama must know what is truly at stake, and see once more the power of the alliances that have turned Keystone XL into a turning point for our movements, and for our future,” the Cowboy Indian Alliance said in a recent statement.