The Hill News

It has been two weeks since the Exxon pipeline ruptured into the Yellowstone River and there's still no end in sight for Montanans as they work to clean up the crude oil contaminating their land. Pastureland has been ruined, livestock have been forced to move, and ranchers and residents have reported symptoms of hydrocarbon poisoning.

But despite these continuing examples of the harmful consequences of our addiction to oil, another oil pipeline company, TransCanada, is pushing to build the Keystone XL, a mega-pipeline that would dwarf Exxon's Silvertip and also pass underneath the iconic Yellowstone River.

Spanning nearly 2,000 miles from Alberta to Texas, the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline would cross six states and funnel up to 900,000 barrels of toxic tar sands to the Gulf Coast each day. TransCanada's CEO, Russell Girling, claims that this pipeline would be "operated in the safest manner possible." But when you consider that TransCanada's existing Keystone ! I pipeline (which is much smaller than the proposed Keystone XL) was estimated to spill only once in its first year and has already spilled 12 times in less than 12 months, those claims aren't so reassuring.

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