TransCanada Corporation (USA) (TRP): Safety Absolutely Must Be a Key Factor in the Keystone XL Debate

Yet just two months before Bison exploded, TransCanada’s director of pipeline integrity lauded the pipeline’s quality, claiming it had been built with “state-of-the-art” technology. “They [the pipelines] will be in place for 20 or 30 years before they need any repairs,” he added.

Final thoughts
While a pipeline such as Keystone would almost certainly provide the U.S. with greater energy security over at least the next several years, as well as tens of thousands of temporary construction jobs, safety should be an overarching priority. That’s especially true for Keystone XL, since it would carry massive quantities of diluted bitumen, or “dilbit” crude, a type of crude oil thought to be more corrosive and more difficult to clean up.

As the recent Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) spill in Arkansas highlighted, oil spills can be quite a hassle to clean up and can often result in the imposition of hefty fines. TransCanada Corporation (USA) (NYSE:TRP) would be wise to follow through with its claims regarding Keystone XL’s top-notch safety measures, not only for its own good but also for the benefit of the environment and the communities that lie along the pipeline’s proposed route.

The article Safety Absolutely Must Be a Key Factor in the Keystone XL Debate originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Arjun Sreekumar.

Fool contributor Arjun Sreekumar and The Motley Fool have no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

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