Construction began on the southern portion of the Keystone XL Pipeline on August 9. TransCanada began installing pipe segments near Livingston, Texas.
The pipeline is designed to carry tar sands from Alberta across the United States to processing facilities on the Texas coast. Tar sands are controversial because of the amount of damage extracting them does to the environment. They are also dirty and more difficult to clean up than other oil.
After the Obama administration denied a permit for the pipeline to cross the Sandhills in Nebraska, which are over a large aquifer, TransCanada agreed to go around and have applied for a new permit.
The southern section of the Keystone XL pipeline will run through Oklahoma and Texas. TransCanada says the southern section of the pipeline will relieve a bottleneck of crude oil in Cushing, Oklahoma.
Oil pollution photo via Shutterstock
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