Keystone XL: L'oléoduc controversé

Photo: thinkquest.org

Les autorités du Nebraska demandent à l'état de s'assurer que le pipeline projeté de $7 milliards pour transporter le pétrole brut du Canada vers les raffineries le long du Golfe du Mexique ne passera près du réservoir d'eau douce qui sert à irriguer le grand bassin agricole qui remplit le panier d'épicerie des Américains.

La compagnie canadienne, siège social à Calgary, TransCanada Corp espère construire l'oléoduc long de 2,000 milles baptisé Keystone XL l'année prochaine. Le pipeline transporterait 510,000 barils de pétrole brut par jour extrait des sables bitumineux de l'Alberta vers les raffineries au Texas et en Louisiane.

Mais les inquiétudes environnementales ne manquent pas, comme l'augmentation des émissions des gaz à effets de serre générés par la production, le traitement et la combustion du pétrole sale extrait des sables bitumineux, et retardent le projet. Les fuites et déversements de pétrole brut canadien récemment en Illinois et au Michigan des oléoducs d'Enbridge n'aident pas les choses non plus.

Le gouverneur du Nebraska a écrit à la Secrétaire d'état Hillary Clinton parce que le parcours projeté fait passer le pipeline au-dessus de l'aquifère au Nebraska Ogallala, l'aquifère connu le plus vaste de la planète. Cet aquifère si précieux se trouve sous 8 états et fournit le tiers de l'eau pour irriguer les terres agricoles du pays.

Clinton semble préférer approuver cet oléoduc et le pétrole sale des sables bitumineux à la dépendance au pétrole de l'OPEC. Mais l'EPA a demandé une révision de l'étude en impacts environnementaux en juillet afin qu'elle contienne de l'information sur la sécurité et les capacités de réponse en cas d'accident ou de déversement. C'est le State Department de la Secrétaire Hillary Clinton qui a le dernier mot et qui approuvera ou pas le projet d'ici la fin de l'année 2010.

Faut-il rappeler que le pétrole brut des sables bitumineux, un mélange de pétrole et de particules sablonneuses, nécessite la combustion de grandes quantités de combustibles fossiles pour l'extraire et le raffiner. Les émissions de carbone émises à partir du berceau du produit sont plus élevées que celles des pétroles habituellement utilisés aux États-Unis, bien que les experts ne s'entendent pas sur les chiffres précis.

Mais le tracé choisi pour faire passer le gazoduc fait aussi broncher plusieurs: d'autres tracés alternatifs seraient souhaités pour réduire les risques de contamination des eaux souterraines. Le porte-parole de TransCanada dit que la compagnie a choisi cette route là parce qu'elle est moins exposée aux travaux de creusage de tierces parties, ce qui pourraient occasionner des fuites, et le nombe inférieur de propriétaires terriens le long du tracé choisi par la compagnie.

Louise Vandelac a parlé de l'aquifère Ogallala au Forum québécois sur l'eau.
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"Water concerns grow over Canada-U.S. mega oil pipe

Nebraskan officials are urging the State Department to ensure a proposed $7 billion pipeline that plans to send Canadian crude to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico would avoid a massive water reservoir that irrigates agriculture in the nation's breadbasket.

Calgary-based TransCanada Corp had hoped to start building the 2,000 mile Keystone XL pipeline next year, which would send crude from the country's oil sands. The project could bring 510,000 barrels per day of crude from one of America's closest allies to refineries in Texas and Louisiana reducing the U.S. dependence on oil from Venezuela and the Middle East.

But environmental concerns on issues such as greenhouse gas emissions from producing, refining and burning oil sands, have delayed the project. The concern about water contamination follow recent high-profile pipeline leaks in Illinois and Michigan on Enbridge Inc ducts that deliver Canadian oil.

Nebraska's Governor Dave Heineman wrote a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that said the proposed pipeline route would run 300 miles over Nebraska and the Ogallala aquifer. The aquifer, one of the world's largest, spans eight states and yields nearly a third of the country's water used for irrigation. "Nebraskans are concerned that the proposed pipeline route could contaminate the Ogallala Aquifer and I share that concern," Heineman wrote in a letter dated October 11, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters on Wednesday. Nebraska's farm sales in 2008 hit $17 billion, Heineman, wrote.

The State Department has indicated it may approve a line bringing Canadian oil to the United States for energy security reasons. "We've not yet signed off on it," Clinton said at an event in San Francisco last week. "But we are inclined to do so and we are for several reasons ... we'll either going to be dependent on dirty oil from the (Persian) Gulf or dirty oil from Canada," Clinton said. She said she has to consider all the energy factors in when it comes to the nation's energy security.

Greenhouse gas emission concerns surrounding the oil sands were one of factors that led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to request the State Department in July to revise its draft environmental impact statement on the pipeline. The EPA requested the State Department's final impact statement include information concerning pipeline safety and spill response capabilities. The State Department has the final say on the project and has said it could make the decision by the end of the year.

Crude from the oil sands, a tarry mix of petroleum and grit, requires companies to burn large amounts of fossil fuels to process and refine it. The lifetime carbon emissions of the crude are higher than those of average oils burned in the United States, though experts differ on how much worse they are. Senator Mike Johanns, a Republican from Nebraska, also sent a letter to Clinton on October 14 urging the State Department to consider other routes that would reduce risks to the aquifer.

TransCanada spokesman Terry Cunha said the company chose the rural route because it was less exposed to third party bulldozers and other diggers that sometimes cause pipeline leaks, and that there were fewer property owners along the path."

Excerpts from Reuters article published here: http://www.cnbc.com/id/39763736

If only Quebec already knew what kind of groundwater is available underground! We are already hydrofracking even before having completely surveyed our aquifers!