Pipe that will be used to construct the Keystone XL pipeline is stored in a field

The Keystone XL pipeline is dead. Now what?

The Keystone XL may never move any oil, but its impact will still linger in the form of the pipes, worker camps, and other assets stranded along its 1,200-mile path.

Pipe intended for use in the Keystone XL pipeline is stored in a field near the border of Montana and North Dakota. The Keystone project is technically dead after President Joe Biden halted it through executive order on January 20, but the components of the project remain intact, at least for now.

Photograph by Sara Hylton

Within hours of his inauguration on January 20, President Joe Biden walked into the Oval Office, pulled his chair up to the Resolute Desk, and signed a broad executive order to tackle the climate crisis, including a clause that revoked the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline’s construction in the United States.

On paper, at least, the controversial project was dead. TC Energy, the pipeline’s owner, suspended operations on Keystone that day; opponents made celebratory announcements.

The Keystone XL, which is designed to deliver 830,000 barrels a day of crude oil from the Alberta oil sands to refineries in the U.S., has been declared dead before. In 2015 President Barack Obama rejected the initial permit application—but President Donald Trump reversed that decision.

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