The Keystone XL Pipeline has been a source of debate for months now.  Commissioned by the corporation TransCanada, it would deliver Canadian crude oil from Alberta to refineries in the golf coast.

Environmentalists have taken a stand against this for a number of reasons.  Oil derived from tar sands pollutes much more than crude oil.  Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee, said, “this pipeline is a multibillion-dollar investment to expand our reliance on the dirtiest source of transportation fuel currently available.”

This opposition is fueled in part by the carbon pollution that tar sands oil produces when burned.  A Huffington Post article, “Canada’s Tar Sands Battle With Europe,” presents two sets of numbers on just how much worse this oil is.

“A 2011 study for the EU by Stanford University academic Adam Brandt found that oil-sand crude was as much as 22 percent more carbon intensive,” the article noted.

However, the government of Alberta, where the oil would be coming from, released a conflicting study.

“The study, by a unit of California-based Jacobs Engineering Group, found that emissions from oil-sand crude are just 12 percent higher than from regular crude.”

Regardless of which number is true, it is undeniable that tar sands oil puts out more carbon dioxide than most.

Emily Deaver, a Professor of Environmental Science at SMSU, is familiar with issues relating to different fuel sources and their carbon outputs.

“I am generally against the push to use more fossil fuels and think we should be putting more resources into developing renewable, less polluting sources of energy,” Deaver said. “We are at a crisis point in dealing with global climate change and we need to be working on ways to immediately reduce our emissions, not spending time and resources to expand our use of oil.”

In addition to the higher carbon emissions from burning tar sands oil, she pointed out that it involves “a much more energy intensive extraction process, and does produce more greenhouse gas emissions when burned than other types of oils.”

Deaver also mentioned that extracting this oil would destroy parts of the Boreal Forest in Canada. This adds to the environmental impact of the project, as forests like this are “sinks” for carbon, storing large amounts of it in plant matter and reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It is also a source of biodiversity, hosting species such as caribou.

There are some benefits to building this pipeline. At present, much of the oil produced by TransCanada is already being shipped to the United States in other ways, such as on trains. An article by David Shaffer in the Star Tribune said, “Canadian National Railway, the largest railroad in Canada, reported an 82 percent increase in crude oil shipments in three months ending in June.” This in turn leads to an increase in price for products that rely on the railways. Moving the oil by pipeline would reduce the stress on the rail system.

Construction of the pipeline would also create temporary construction jobs, and increase tax revenues in states that the pipeline runs through.

“Oil is a better option than burning coal in terms of production of pollutants and greenhouse gases,” Deaver said, as coal releases certain metals like mercury into the air as well as a higher concentration of sulfur dioxide, which causes acid rain, and nitrogen oxides.

Regardless of whether or not the pipeline goes through, reducing carbon emissions is always beneficial. For college students on a tight budget, who don’t have much say in the pipeline issue, Deaver had the following recommendations:

“Turn off all electrical appliances when not using them (turn off the lights when you leave the room, unplug your laptop once it is charged); reduce the load in our car (empty all the extra junk out of your trunk that you don’t need—a lighter vehicle gets better gas mileage). Walk or bike when you can, instead of driving short distances. Carpool.”

Not only will these options benefit the environment, but you’ll be paying less for gasoline and on your electric bill as well.