going over the aquifer system and avoiding completely environmentally fragile areas. It indicated that pipeline

construction would not harm "most resources".

As noted at the outset of this chapter, the Obama Administration declined to approve construction of the Keystone

XL project. However, the Trump administration announced its willingness to do so, but as noted earlier, the Biden

administration effectively ended the project. While we may fairly easily quantify the economic benefits of additional
296 12 • Environmental Protection and Negative Externalities

oil in the United States, the social costs are more challenging to measure. Consequently, different observers may

reach different conclusions about the balance between estimates of economic benefits and estimates of the social

costs of the pipeline project.

Access for free at openstax.org
12 • Key Terms 297

Key Terms
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