Comment: Experts call for moratorium on new pipelines

In a Comment piece in Nature, Eight experts in environmental science, policy and risk call for a moratorium on building new oil pipelines in North America.

Both Keystone XL pipeline (which would run from Alberta through the US Midwest) and Northern Gateway pipeline which would connect Alberta with a port on British Columbia’s coast “highlight flaws in oil-sands policies”. They recommend “no new oil-sand projects until unless developments are consistent with national and international commitments to reducing carbon pollution”.

Original research paper published in the journal Nature on June 25, 2014.

Names and affiliations of selected authors

Wendy Palen, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia

Thomas Homer-Dixon, University of Waterloo, Ontario

Mark Jaccard, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia

Ken Lertzman, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia

Thomas Sisk, Northern Arizona University, USA

Maureen Ryan, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia