Keystone pipeline is a designed pipeline of 1,179-mile (1,897km) that would carry 830,000 barrels of oil from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada, to Nebraska. In Nebraska the pipeline would join an existing pipeline.

 

The pipeline will be privately financed by oil companies in Canada ( TransCanada) and other oil shippers. The go ahead to the project which President Trump signed will grossly reduce North America’s dependence for oil on Gulf countries.

 

President Obama had not approved the project following the reports of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Critics of the project argue that Keystone pipeline will exacerbate the environment. Oil spillage is one of the main concerns. The EPA argues that the gas emissions from development and use of oil sands crude is about 17% greater than emissions from average crude oil.

 

President Trump believes that construction of pipeline will create construction jobs. He says that pipes will be built in the US and lot of steel workers will be back to work.

“The story of the Keystone XL pipeline is the story of how we built the grassroots climate movement in this country,” said Joelle Novey, the director of Interfaith Power and Light, a religious advocacy group that supports climate action. Novey showed up to the White House protest on Tuesday night; she said it was only the most recent of countless protests she attended against Keystone. “It’s a symbol,” she told me, “which is probably partly why Trump went for it on his fourth day.”