Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
A leak along the existing leg of TransCanada’s Keystone pipeline has spilled at least 200,000 gallons of oil in South Dakota as of Friday, prompting the company to shut down much of the system. It is officially the largest spill in the pipeline’s history, surpassing a leak last year that sent 16,800 gallons of oil spilling onto South Dakota grasslands.
The Senate voted this evening to reject the Keystone XL pipeline that would have carried Alberta tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The measure failed by a vote of 41-59. Sixty votes are required to pass a bill out of the Senate.
The U.S. State Department released its final environmental impact study of the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline Friday, and although some scientists and advocates who have spent years making the case that it would be an environmental disaster don’t much like the results, other pipeline opponents have found it encouraging to their cause.
