The recent oil spill on TC Energy's existing Keystone pipeline was an additional push to deny permission to build the Keystone XL pipeline. A growing number of votes at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) supported the decision.
The Keystone pipeline was built just in 2011 and is not old. The cause of the spill is under investigation. IEEFA wonders about the service lifetime of the new section of pipeline. It is usually measured in decades. The reason behind the spill is unclear.
Previously, the U.S. Government Accountability Office had already published a report on repeated spills on the pipeline, and a year and a half later this incident occurred. The IEEFA report stated that TC Energy failed in preventing oil spills.
In June, IEEFA published a report on the unreasonable investment in Keystone XL as increasing competition from electric vehicles reduces the market for gasoline. In addition, the report stated that the cancellation of Keystone XL was the right decision.