ALERT: Killing Keystone XL Creates an Environmental Disaster

With his Executive Order revoking the Keystone XL Pipeline project's border-crossing permit, President Biden said he was acting in the name of fighting climate
 change. Instead his decision will add at least 1.5 million tons of CO2 per year to the atmosphere - the equivalent of emissions from 490,000 automobiles.


Not completing the project will force major quantities of Canadian crude oil onto the rails between Hardisty, Alberta and the U.S. Gulf Coast refining complex, with the added CO₂ resulting from extensive
 diesel locomotive exhaust emissions.



Announcing EEIA's just-published analysis measuring that increase, EEIA's President Toby Mack concluded that it "strips away any pretense that the decision to kill Keystone XL was made to help address climate change. President Biden killed Keystone XL, along with the tens of thousands of construction and supply chain jobs it would have supported, for political reasons and without any basis in facts and science."

The following analysis details how those new CO2 emissions add up.
 


The distance from Hardisty to the U.S. Gulf Coast oil refining complex is about 2,200 miles.


The U.S Department of Transportation limits railroad tank car capacity to 186,000 lbs., or 93 tons, which equals 620 barrels of crude oil (crude oil weighs 300 pounds per 42-gallon barrel). The Association of American Railroads (AAR) data report that the actual average tons of crude transported per carload in 2019 was 92.9.¹
 


AAR also reports that one gallon of diesel fuel is needed to haul one ton of cargo 472 miles.¹ Hauling one ton of crude oil 2,200 miles burns 4.66 gallons of diesel fuel. Moving one rail car that distance with 93 tons of crude oil on board burns 433 gallons.
 
 
 


Keystone XL would have had the capacity to transport up to 800,000 barrels of crude oil per day. While it's not known what its actual operating rate would have been, conservatively assume for illustrative purposes that it would operate at half its capacity, or an average of 400,000 barrels per day.₃
 
 
 







Replacing that much pipeline capacity with rail shipments would require 645 carloads of 620 barrels each per day, or over six fully-loaded 100+ car "unit trains". At 4.86 tons of CO₂ emitted per carload, that amounts to 3,135 tons of CO2 emitted per day. For a full 365-day year, that's 235,425 carloads of crude at 433 gallons of diesel per carload, requiring 101,939,025 gallons of diesel fuel. At 22.44 pounds of CO2 emitted per gallon burned, southbound trips emit 1,143,766 tons of CO₂ per year.


There's more. After a crude train unloads its cargo on the Gulf Coast, it must return empty to Hardisty to pick up the next load. It is estimated that the empty return trip would burn about one-third as much fuel as a loaded train going south. That's an additional 33,979,675 gallons per year, adding up to 135,918,700 total round-trip gallons of diesel fuel consumed per year, emitting 1,525,000 tons of CO₂.
 
 
 


Keystone XL would have been built to operate entirely on renewable energy. At 400,000 barrels per day it would have avoided diesel locomotive emissions of approximately 1.52 million tons of CO₂ per year. If the pipeline were operated at full capacity, that number doubles to about 3 million tons of CO₂ going into our atmosphere annually.
 

 


To make a popular comparison to auto emissions, the average car in the U.S. burns 316 gallons of gasoline per year, emitting 3.1 tons₂ of CO₂. That means Keystone XL at 400,000 barrels per day would have resulted in reducing CO2 emissions an amount equivalent to taking 490,000 cars off the road.⁴


¹Association of American Railroads: Railroad Facts 2020 Edition ²U.S Environmental Protection Agency: Greenhouse Gas Emissions from a Typical Passenger Vehicle: 19.6 lbs. of CO2 per gallon gasoline; 22.44 lbs. of CO2 per gallon diesel
 ³In 2019, about 675,000 barrels per day of crude oil traveled by railroad in the U.S., including both U.S and Canadian-originated shipments. (AAR and Canada Energy Regulator)
 ⁴U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (2019): U.S. Passenger Car Vehicle Miles Travelled: 2.254 trillion; average MPG: 25; cars registered: 285 million; miles per car: 7,900; gallons of gas consumed per car in one year: 316
 
 



 

 Toby Mack, President EEIA 1Association of American Railroads: Railroad Facts 2020 Edition 2U.S Environmental Protection Agency: Greenhouse Gas Emissions from a Typical Passenger Vehicle: 19.6 lbs. of CO2 per gallon gasoline; 22.44 lbs. of CO2 per gallon
 diesel 3In 2019, about 675,000 barrels per day of crude oil traveled by railroad in the U.S., including both U.S and Canadian-originated shipments. (AAR and Canada Energy Regulator) 4U.S. Bureau of Transportation
 Statistics (2019): U.S. Passenger Car Vehicle Miles Travelled: 2.254 trillion; average MPG: 25; cars registered: 285 million; miles per car: 7,900; gallons of gas consumed per car in one year: 316