Why Keystone XL Would Be an Economic and Environmental Win

Through all the shouting and posturing in Washington, D.C., there is one issue on which all sides agree – that the U.S. needs to invest in infrastructure to ensure that people and products can move efficiently and safely from one place to another.

While the country needs massive investments in roads, bridges and ports, it also needs significant investments in its energy infrastructure – including electricity transmission lines, new electrical generation and pipelines – to move natural gas and crude oil from newly developed reservoirs to markets.

Among the most visible of all the proposed projects is the Keystone XL pipeline, which is currently being evaluated by the Nebraska Public Service Commission (NPSC).

The facts in front of the PSC are straightforward. The 1,179-mile long pipeline project will be good for the American and Nebraska economies and, most importantly, will be safe.

Here’s why: The Association of Oil Pipelines says that 99.999 percent of petroleum products moved via pipeline safely reach their destination every day. A 2015 study by the Fraser Institute showed that moving energy via pipeline in Canada was 4.5 times safer than moving the same volume across the same distance by rail. The U.S. Department of Transportation also says that pipelines here are more than 450 times safer than rail on a per-mile basis. 

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