"Keystone XL Could Be a Terrorist Target"

"The proposed Keystone XL pipeline -- which would carry unstable, corrosive, goopy, hard-to-clean-up bitumen right down the middle of the country -- could be a tempting target for terrorists."

...

"Pipeline sabotage has become a terrorist 'weapon of choice,' wrote Gal Luft, executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, in Pipeline & Gas Journal in 2005. In the post-9/11 world, he wrote, 'terrorist groups have identified the world's energy system, 'the provision line and the feeding to the artery of the life of the crusader nation,' in the words of al Qaeda, as the Achilles heel of the West.' Luft was warning about sabotage in Iraq and other international hotspots, but we'd be wise to consider the dangers within our own borders as well. As the Checks and Balances Project wrote recently, 'It's hard to think of a larger target for our enemies to take aim at than a 1,661-mile pipeline measuring 36 inches thick and filled with flammable crude oil.'"

Lisa Hymas reports for Grist October 4, 2011.

SEE ALSO:

"Room for Debate" (New York Times)


FOIA'd State Dept. E-mails on Keyston XL (Friends of the Earth)

"Oil Sands Imports Could Be Banned Under Eu Directive" (Guardian)

Source: Grist, 10/05/2011