The Top 3 Flaws with the State Dept.’s Keystone Study

When the State Department issued its environmental impact statement on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline two weeks ago, the media’s main takeaway was that State had found the project would not significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions.  But as environmental advocates have dug deeper into the report in the days since, they have concluded that State made several flawed assumptions and decisions.  Moreover, even its own findings show potential contributions to global warming if the pipeline moves forward.

Here are environmentalists’ three major complaints:

1. The questionable assumption that tar-sands development is inevitable.
2. Lack of context — State’s report did not consider Keystone in relation to other proposed pipeline projects.
3. Conflict of interest.

The Top 3 Flaws with the State Dept.’s Keystone Study