DOS KXL FSEIS Letters to State

The Dept. of State Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) Executive Summary §4.1.2 claims that "approval or denial of any one crude oil transport Project is unlikely to significantly impact the rate of tarsands extraction in the oil sands or the continued demand for heavy crude oil at refineries in the United States based on expected oil prices, oil-sands supply costs, transport costs, and supply-demand scenarios." And in Chapter 1 §1.4.1.3 the FSEIS states "However, the demand persists for imported heavy crude oil by U.S. refineries optimized to process heavy crude slates. Meanwhile, Canadian production of bitumen from the oil sands continues to grow, the vast majority of which is currently exported to the United States to be processed by U.S. refineries." If we are serious about taking measures to mitigate the climate crisis, we will need to begin retiring the carbon fuel-based infrastructure, and that includes refineries, boilers, heaters, furnaces across the board (residential, commercial, and industrial). Given the conclusions of the FSEIS, starting with not building pipelines -- and abandoning pipelines already built -- to support extraction of Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin would not be detrimental to the national interest of the United States, or, in other words, the Keystone XL would fail the national interest determination, and therefore be denied.