So as we talked about last week, we all know that the Keystone Pipeline XL project has not been completely truthful about how the project will increase jobs. Well you know what else they are not being completely truthful about?
Effects on the people surrounding the pipeline
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Now, we all know that this is TransCanada’s project. One would think that TransCanada would want to ensure the safety of the people in Canada. To start this project, they have begun building in Canada. “Alberta, Canada — where the tar sands are extracted — and where a rare type of cancer has increased by 30 percent since the extraction of the tar sands began”(Thinkprogress.org).
How do tar sands cause diseases like cancer? Well, refining tar sands is like refining oil, but dirtier, and yields higher emissions of harmful gasses. These harmful gasses will effects everyone living along the pipeline, which will mean higher polluted areas.According to Friends of the Earth, “Communities near the refineries where the Keystone XL pipeline terminates, many of them low-income and communities of color, already live with dangerously high levels of air pollution. The Keystone XL pipeline would further exacerbate the heavy burden of pollution and environmental injustices these communities confront.” (Friends of the Earth)
So, would one not think that if you saw this trend, would you not want to take a stand? Well, Dr. John O’Connor did. He noticed that statistics for rare cancer had shot up 400 times more then normal in towns downstream of the pipeline. let me repeat.
400 times!!
He immediate urged for a study to be done to ensure that if this was accurate, something could be done. (desmogblog.com) He has been quoted in this blog saying…
“I’m just here as an advocate for my patients, I have absolutely no political agenda,” O’Connor said. “There are piles of papers, peer-reviewed published scientific studies have been done that reveal a burden on the environment … this burden includes a sizable amount of carcinogens that get into the food chain, into the water and the air. These toxins have been linked with cancer” (desmogblog.com).
However, ultimately Dr. O’Connors study was not completed. Additionally, the Canadian government tried to cover it up by calling him a fraud and saying that he was trying to cause alarm. It was not until a study was later conducted that he was proven innocent and correct. So now, think about all the areas that this Pipeline will cover. In what way can you say that causing such harmful emissions in all these areas is worth creating this pipeline?
It really makes you wonder, if TransCanada is covering up the fact that this pipeline will cause harm to everyone around it, and giving out misconceptions about the jobs it creates, what else will this pipeline harm?
Keystone Pipeline XL: The Environmental Killer 