Green groups and oil industry advocates continued the battle over the Keystone XL pipeline yesterday with a flurry of competing reports about the proposed TransCanada line.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall joined 10 U.S. Republican governors yesterday in urging the Obama administration to approve the northern segment of Keystone XL, which would run 1,179 miles from Canada to Nebraska for linkage into the Gulf Coast if constructed.

In the letter, the government officials said the proposed oil conduit is needed to enhance energy security and generate jobs and tax revenue along the pipeline route.

"The Keystone XL pipeline could also provide the critical infrastructure required to transport growing U.S. domestic production from the Bakken shale region to market," the letter states. It was signed by the governors of Arizona, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming.

Keystone XL would carry oil sands crude from Alberta, but more than 10 percent of the pipeline's space could be used for Bakken oil. The Bakken formation could provide royalty and tax revenue for Saskatchewan from the oil patch, which stretches into North Dakota and Montana.

In a second statement yesterday, the Saskatchewan government said that Keystone XL was important for "easing pipeline capacity for all jurisdictions" in growing production in the Bakken.

The letter is the latest volley between pipeline supporters and environmentalists as the State Department weighs an environmental impact statement for the northern segment of Keystone XL. The Obama administration denied a permit for the original Keystone XL pipeline in 2011, citing concerns about its path through an ecologically sensitive area of Nebraska (ClimateWire, Nov. 11, 2011).

Battle over jobs numbers and GHG emissions

Yesterday, the pro-oil-sands Consumer Energy Alliance released a report stating that the pipeline could create more than 5,000 jobs in Nebraska.

Environmentalists attacked the figure, while industry said it showed the pipeline's economic significance. The dispute highlights the pressure facing Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman (R), who must decide by early February on the adequacy of a reroute of the pipeline in his state.

Pipeline supporters say Keystone XL will not increase greenhouse gas emissions beyond business-as-usual scenarios. Citing the State Department's original environmental analysis in 2011, they say that the oil in Canada will be extracted regardless of Keystone XL, because of proposed alternative pipelines, such as Enbridge's Northern Gateway proposal to Canada's west coast.

Yesterday, environmental groups and scientists challenged that argument with the release of two reports on the climate impact of the TransCanada project, including an analysis of its ability to increase carbon dioxide emissions by producing petroleum coke in the refining process (ClimateWire, Jan. 17).

The Pembina Institute, a Canadian-based environmental think tank, released the second report, concluding that Keystone XL could boost oil sands production by 36 percent -- an amount that would increase emissions by the equivalent of six coal plants.

Green groups say opposition to pipelines such as Northern Gateway in Canada signals that oil sands growth is not inevitable. Northern Gateway is facing opposition from many First Nations groups (ClimateWire, Oct. 22, 2012).

Because Keystone XL is larger than other pipeline proposals and further along in the permitting process, it is the key to whether oil sands production flattens or nearly triples by 2030, they say.

"The tar sands expansion is unlikely to occur without Keystone XL," said Danielle Droitsch, Canada project director at the Natural Resources Defense Council.