Keystone XL Pipeline

Keystone XL is a 36-inch crude oil pipeline that would begin in Hardisty, Alberta, and extend south to Steele City, Nebraska. It would traveerse two provinces and three states and cover about 1,184 miles.

The pipeline has the capacity to deliver up to 830,000 barrels of crude oil each day from western Canadian oil fields to the United States’ Gulf Coast refineries, where there is a demand for the type of heavy crude oil produced in Canada

The pipeline has been deemed to be in the United States’ national interests, in large part, because it will provide the U.S. with a dependable source of crude oil from a stable nation a reliable and trusted trading partner, Canada.

Currently, the U.S. imports about 7 million barrels of oil a day from countries such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Venezuela.

Every international pipeline that crosses an international border into the U.S. requires a presidential permit. Keystone XL received a permit from President Trump’s administration on March 23, 2017.

This is the most studied cross-border pipeline in the history of the North America. It has been studied three separate times by the U.S. Department of State and has been studied by the environmental departments of all three states along the route. Every federal and state study has concluded that this project provides the safest and most economical means to transport crude oil, with no significant impact on the environment.

If you want to read the federal studies yourself, the U.S. Department of State has a web site for Keystone XL: www.keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov

TransCanada is in the process of refining its construction schedule, but the plan is to start construction in the spring or summer of 2019. Pre-construction activities have begun in Montana and South Dakota this fall (2018) and includes grading and preparing sites for pipe storage and our expected workforce camps.

About two years.

TransCanada will use a method known as Horizontal Directional Drilling to cross major rivers, burrowing at least 25 feet below the bottom of the river bed.

Check out this video to see how we safely construct at major crossings like rivers roads and railroads.

For the first time in the project’s history, Keystone XL has permits from all three states along the route, along with a presidential permit. The project is still awaiting federal permits to cross federal lands and waterways permits, including land owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

Keystone XL is the fourth and final leg of the Keystone Pipeline System. In 2009, TransCanada submitted its regulatory application for Keystone XL in Canada. It was approved by the National Energy Board in 2010.

In the United States, we have been working with federal, state, tribal and local leaders since 2009 to advance the project to construction. Over that time, TransCanada has received a Presidential Permit and route certifications in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska.

We have not started construction on Keystone XL. However, preconstruction activities started last year in anticipation of construction starting in 2019.

Keystone XL would provide substantial economic benefits to the U.S. Those benefits would include a multibillion dollar contribution to the United States’ GDP and significant property tax revenues - as well as sales and other tax revenues - to counties and states along the proposed project route.

Keystone XL will pay more than $100 million dollars in property and other taxes over its lifetime. This is money counties could use to build new roads, schools and hospitals.

The project will support tens of thousands of jobs both directly and indirectly. Over 9000 skilled laborers will be required to build the project and tens of thousands of jobs are created through the project’s supply chain. To find out more about jobs and work on the project visit our vendor registration page. 

In addition to supporting tens of thousands of jobs throughout the construction phase and generating billions of dollars in wages, taxes and economic benefit. Keystone XL will provide the United States with a stable, secure supply of crude oil from North America, reducing reliance on OPEC and helping replace declining supplies from traditional suppliers such as Mexico.

TransCanada accepts applications from vendors looking to provide the Keystone XL Pipeline with services and/or materials.

For your company to be considered, please complete this Contractor, Supplier and Vendor Registration Form. Once your company’s details have been provided, you may be contacted for additional information on your service/supply offerings or requested to provide proposals on project work directly to TransCanada or through our third-party contractors.

We also encourage you to visit Jobs.TransCanada.com to learn more about current career opportunities at TransCanada.

During construction, Keystone XL will create thousands of well-paying jobs and will create numerous economic benefits for the communities along the pipeline right-of-way, including millions of dollars in additional taxes to municipalities, as well as investments in local community initiatives.

The U.S. Department of State is conducting a supplemental analysis of its environmental review of the Keystone XL pipeline, including an analysis of the route in Nebraska approved by the Public Service Commission.  The agency is expected to issue a final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement in the coming months. 

Keystone XL has undergone years of extensive environmental review by federal and state regulators. Every single evaluation has shown that Keystone XL can be built safely and with minimal impact to the environment.  We have no reason to believe this review will be any different.'

In addition to supporting tens of thousands of jobs throughout the construction phase and generating billions of dollars in wages, taxes and economic benefit. Keystone XL will provide the United States with a stable, secure supply of crude oil from North America, reducing reliance on OPEC and helping replace declining supplies from traditional suppliers such as Mexico.

Keystone XL would provide substantial economic benefits to the U.S. Those benefits would include a $3.4 billion contribution to the United States’ GDP and significant property tax revenues, as well as sales and other tax revenues, to counties and states along the proposed project route. (U.S. Department of State’s Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, 2014.)

In addition, Keystone XL will pay more than $100 million dollars in property and other taxes over its lifetime. This is money counties could use to build new roads, schools and hospitals. Additionally, sales and use taxes revenue from the construction of the proposed project would be approximately $66 million. These revenues could help to ease the tax burden on ordinary Americans. Construction of Keystone XL is also expected to contribute approximately $3.4 billion to the U.S. GDP.

During construction, Keystone XL will create thousands of well-paying jobs and will result in numerous economic benefits for communities along the route of the pipeline, including millions of dollars in additional taxes to municipalities as well as investments in local community initiatives.

We are committed to moving this important project forward, with plans to start construction in 2019. 

Pipelines are very safe. In fact, they are the safest method of transporting crude oil and natural gas over long distances. 

Keystone XL is required to have comprehensive Emergency Response Plan in place that outline the steps we’ll take to respond in the unlikely event of an incident. We develop these plans throughout the project and in compliance with federal requirements.

We work very closely with emergency responders across our pipeline route so that everyone will be prepared in case of an incident. Every year, we hold over 100 safety exercises to ensure that we and our first response partners, are ready in the rare case of an incident.

In an emergency situation, our goal is to ensure an effective, coordinated response to contain and control any incident so we protect you, your community, the environment and surrounding infrastructure.

There’s no denying climate change is at the forefront of environmental interests now more than ever. And as a leading energy infrastructure company, TransCanada recognizes our role in the larger energy system, including our own emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs).

Every day, we do our part to manage our GHG emissions, and the programs and initiatives we have in place meet, and often exceed, regulatory requirements.

The U.S. State Department’s Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) of Keystone XL undertook an extensive review of the GHG emissions issue. It concluded the project indisputably passed this test.

Based on the FSEIS’s conclusion, the approval of the proposed project will NOT have a significant impact on the GHGs released from the upstream sector in Canada and Keystone XL, therefore, will not “significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.”

GHG emissions associated with alternative transportation scenarios such as shipping oil by rail, barge and truck are significantly greater than Keystone XL.

Read more in TransCanada’s Corporate Social Responsibility Report