The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), criticising the State Department’s evaluation of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, said that the project still presents a risk of spills and adverse impacts remain.

The Keystone XL pipeline project is a proposed 1,897km crude oil pipeline, starting in Hardisty, Alberta, and extending south to Steele City, Nebraska.

It is proposed to carry about 830,000 b/d of Canadian and Bakken crude to the US Gulf Coast.

The EPA said construction of the pipeline is expected to change the economics of oil sands development and result in increased oil sands production, and the accompanying greenhouse gas emissions.

The pipeline, over its 50-year lifetime, is expected to release about 1.37 billion more tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.



The agency said the recent variability in oil prices will have an effect on the project.

According to the agency, while the entire effect of the project on oil sands production will be driven by long-term movements in the price of oil and not short term volatility, recent large declines highlight the variability of prices.

The EPA noted that the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement SEIS includes further information on how the department screened pipeline route alternatives, and determined what routes to analyse in detail.

Through this process, the department determined that the Keystone Corridor alternatives, which would parallel the entire existing Keystone pipeline route in the US, are not reasonable alternatives for the purposes of National Environmental Policy Act NEPA.

Earlier in 2015, US President Barack Obama has urged Congress to set its sights higher than a single oil pipeline, as the country looks to upgrade its infrastructure.