“Building the $5.3 billion Keystone XL oil pipeline across the middle of the U.S. will require thousands of workers and millions of pounds of steel.
It will also require a lot of smelly dead rats.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service this month said that Keystone’s proposed route across Nebraska put the endangered American burying beetle at risk. The agency said the black and orange-spotted insect could be spared, and the project move forward, if proper procedure is followed.
That means pipeline builder TransCanada Corp. (TRP) will have to trap and relocate the one-inch beetles, using frozen rats that have thawed for at least three days for maximum pungency, according to detailed protocols U.S. authorities have drawn up to protect the burrowing bug.
“It’s amazing that you have to go through all this time and effort to protect a beetle, but they do,” said Michael Whatley, executive vice president of the Consumer Energy Alliance, an industry-backed group based in Washington that promotes low energy costs and supports Keystone. “The take away is that no matter what t’s have to be crossed or i’s dotted, they are doing it.”
The State Department is still reviewing the Calgary-based TransCanada’s application to build the pipeline linking Alberta’s oil sands to refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast, and a decision on whether it’s in the national interest is expected in the fall. The department has jurisdiction because Keystone would cross the border with Canada.
