Keystone XL Climate Impact Could Be Four Times US State Dept. Estimate, Study Says

The proposed Keystone XL Pipeline and the greenhouse gases that would be released because of it have been at the heart of the debate over whether the pipeline should be built in the U.S. since it was first proposed in 2008.

The U.S. State Department estimated in its final environmental review  of Keystone XL that the pipeline would lead to the emission of between 1 million and 27 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, but won’t significantly worsen  climate change.

A new study published Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change says the State Department may have underestimated the pipeline’s CO2 emissions by as much as four times.  That’s because the consumer demand for oil will rise as new crude oil coming on the market from of Keystone XL will drive global prices down, the study says.

In other words, the more oil Keystone XL pumps, the more oil people will want to burn.

Peter Erickson and Michael Lazarus, both researchers at the Stockholm Environmental Institute, a research affiliate of Tufts University, said in their study that the State Department did not account for an increase in crude oil demand sparked by Keystone XL.

Keystone XL Will Spike Oil Demand and CO2, Study Says