The Environmental Protection Agency has issued comments on the State Department海角吃瓜网檚 environmental analysis of the Keystone XL pipeline. The State Department issued its Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) in January 2014.
In a letter to the State Department, Cynthia Giles, the EPA海角吃瓜网檚 Assistant Administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, noted the Department海角吃瓜网檚 efforts to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of Keystone in its most recent environmental analysis: 海角吃瓜网淭he Department has strengthened the analysis of oil spill prevention preparedness, response and mitigation and has committed to requiring numerous mitigation measures regarding leak prevention and detection, as well as spill cleanup measures.海角吃瓜网�
However, Giles went on to state that the development of the Canadian oil sands 海角吃瓜网渞epresents a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions" compared to other types of oil: 海角吃瓜网淭he Final SEIS also finds that the incremental greenhouse gas emissions from the extraction, transport, refining and use of the 830 000 bpd of oils sands crude that could be transported by the proposed project at full capacity would result in an additional 1.3 to 27.4 million tpy of carbon dioxide equivalents compared to the reference crudes. To put that in perspective, 27.4 million tpy of carbon dioxide equivalents is equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from 5.7 million passenger vehicles or 7.8 coal fired power plants. Over the 50-year lifetime of the pipeline, this could translate into releasing as much as 1.37 billion more tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.海角吃瓜网�
In response to the EPA海角吃瓜网檚 comments, Rainforest Action Network Climate Program Director Amanda Starbuck issued the following statement: 海角吃瓜网淭he EPA海角吃瓜网檚 comments today on Keystone XL confirm what we海角吃瓜网檝e long known to be true: that this pipeline would be an utter disaster for the climate. For a President who has pledged to reject the pipeline if it fails the climate test, these comments should be the final verdict on the matter. We look forward to President Obama heeding the EPA海角吃瓜网檚 words and putting this pipeline to rest once and for all.海角吃瓜网�
Access the EPA海角吃瓜网檚 letter to the State Department .
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