WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- It's time for Washington to move ahead with the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline from Canada to bolster domestic energy security, the API said.
Canadian pipeline company TransCanada wants to build the pipeline to carry oil from tar sands projects in Alberta to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico. The project has come to represent the debate over conventional energy and the push toward alternative resources.
The American Petroleum Institute said the pipeline is "shovel ready" and has the potential to allay U.S. energy security concerns.
API Executive Vice President Marty Durbin said in a statement that getting crude oil from Canada means less imports from other, sometimes unstable, countries.
"Surely, enhancing our nation's energy security and providing thousands of new jobs has got to be in the best interest of all Americans," he said. "With the pipeline, U.S. crude imports from Canada could reach 4 million barrels a day by 2020, twice what we currently import from the Persian Gulf."
Critics note the planned route for Keystone XL passes through key groundwater supplies and migratory bird pathways. Alberta crude also poses more complex environmental risks than conventional crude, they said.
The U.S. State Department is to weigh in on the project by the end of the year. The pipeline needs federal approval because it would cross international boundaries.
