Hedegaard challenges US to get serious about climate change
The EU’s top climate official, Connie Hedegaard, stated that if the Obama administration rejects the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, it would send a strong message that the United States is serious about combating climate change.
Hedegaard said rejecting the controversial pipeline, which if completed will transport 830,000 barrels per day of heavy crude oil from Alberta, Canada, to oil refineries in Texas, would show that the United States would "avoid doing something" that could contribute significantly to climate change.
President Obama is under strong pressure from the oil industry, business groups and the Canadian government to approve the project, which will open new outlets for the vast crude reserves in Alberta. However, since according to the American State Department, a report concluded that the environmental costs of getting oil from Canada to the Gulf by other methods were more harmful to the environment, most likely giving Obama political over if he wanted to approve the pipeline. The report, which evaluated two options using rail: shipping the oil on trains to existing pipelines or to oil tankers. The report said these methods would release more greenhouse gases than the pipeline did not recommend the approval of the project.
For environmental groups the question is more about making it easier to exploit the Alberta oil reserves in the first place. They oppose the pipeline as it puts an emphasis on fossil fuels at a time when climate change needs to be addressed by fostering alternative energy sources.
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