U.S. Pipeline Delay could Send Canadian Crude to China
Posted/updated on: November 13, 2011 at 5:27 pm
BILLINGS, MONT. (AP) — The White House plan to seek alternate routes for a Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline presents a tangle of new problems for the project, with the potential to sink it altogether. Shifting the route around a major aquifer could mean more perilous stream crossings and put the line closer to populated areas. Major changes also risk alienating pipeline supporters. Some observers said Friday the dilemma could force TransCanada to bypass U.S. markets and ship fuel to China instead.
The company’s proposed $7 billion Keystone XL line would ship up to 700,000 barrels of crude daily from Alberta’s tar sands to Texas refineries near the Gulf of Mexico. On the current proposed route, the pipeline would go through eastern Smith County.
Following complaints from Nebraska’s governor and state lawmakers, federal officials plan to study new routes to avoid parts of the sprawling Ogallala aquifer which irrigates the High Plains.
