Climate Science Watch

The State Department's Keystone XL tar sands pipeline environmental impact statement doesn’t include any scenario in which the U.S. comes anywhere close to meeting the Obama administration's climate goals, Peter Sinclair at Climate Crocks points out. The study fails to disclose that its conclusions are only valid in the context of American and global climate policy failure. An economic analysis by the Carbon Tracker Initiative concludes that, in its Keystone XL environmental assessment, the State Department severely underestimated the pipeline’s impact on increasing tar sands oil production, and the resulting growth in greenhouse gas emissions. And citing multiple concerns that have received too little attention thus far in discussions of the tar sands, National Nurses United are calling on Secretary of State Kerry to conduct a comprehensive study of how the proposed pipeline would impact public health. Continue reading →