Trump’s Keystone XL pipe dream comes true

In the wake of the president's push earlier this year to reignite the fight over the Keystone XL pipeline, the State Department has officially issued a permit authorizing the project's construction to proceed. KXL, which would transport tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, to the U.S. Gulf Coast, inspired an active protest movement on many fronts. First, the extraction of tar sands oil has a much higher global-warming impact than that of conventional crude oil. The tar sands industry is also destroying Canada’s boreal forests and harming the environment that the region’s First Nation communities rely on. Here in the United States, KXL's path through the heartland would snatch property from American farmers, ranchers, and other landowners—all to support the Canadian industry's bottom line. But for Trump, it’s not enough to act against the national interest. He's also lying—repeatedly—about KXL's false benefits to U.S. economy and, in particular, the steel industry. The fight over this dirty and dangerous oil pipeline, however, will continue in the courts.