8:15 p.m. EST February 26, 2014  Sen. Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who is chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, called for a study of the potential health impact of the Keystone XL pipeline.

WASHINGTON — One of the Senate's most prominent environmentalists said Wednesday the proposed Keystone XL pipeline raises serious health concerns that the Obama administration must thoroughly understand before deciding to approve or reject the project.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, head of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry seeking "an immediate and comprehensive study" of how oil derived from Canadian tar sands and the proposed pipeline would affect human health.

The California Democrat said the Obama administration hasn't paid enough attention to the health consequences of the Keystone project, which environmentalists oppose but business and labor groups support as a source of jobs and energy.

The debate has revolved around the environmental and economic consequences. Boxer said the health implications have been ignored but vowed to change that by raising public awareness and possibly holding hearings.

"Children and families in the U.S. have a right to know now — before any decision to approve the Keystone tar sands pipeline — how it would affect their health," Boxer told reporters on Capitol Hill.

Last month, the State Department gave President Obama a reason to approve the 1,700-mile pipeline from Canada to Texas by concluding it wouldn't significantly add to carbon pollution. Boxer said the environmental study was "woefully inadequate" in examining health implications.

Boxer and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., wrote to Kerry, who will decide whether the pipeline is in the nation's interest. Boxer and Whitehouse urged Kerry to delay the determination until the health study is completed.

Boxer and Whitehouse want the Obama administration to reject the pipeline on public health grounds because preliminary studies have linked the extraction of tar sands oil and the disposal of refinery byproducts to a range of ailments.

"We believe that putting more Americans at risk for asthma, cancer, and other serious health impacts is not in our national interest," the senators wrote. "Clearly much more needs to be done before any final decision on the Keystone XL pipeline is made, and we urge you to complete a comprehensive human health impacts study."

Boxer has long opposed Keystone on environmental grounds and said she has shared her concerns with Kerry and Obama.

Over the past month, she said she grew worried about the health implications after reading Canadian media accounts.
"It just changed my view that I shouldn't only talk about the impact on the climate and (should) look at the effect on people," Boxer said. "I'm adding a new dimension to this fight."

Helping Boxer make her case were pipeline opponents like Dr. John O'Connor, an Alberta physician, and Hilton Kelley, an activist from Port Arthur, Texas.

O'Connor, who has lobbied Canadian lawmakers to stop tar oil extraction, said his country's government has balked at studying the health effects.

But pressure from an outside source — especially one as powerful as Congress — might prompt the Canadian government to study what O'Connor called a hidden public health crisis brewing among Native Canadians and others living near the tar sands of Alberta province.

With three big oil refineries, four chemical plants and other industrial facilities in Houston, Port Arthur and surrounding communities, residents of southeastern Texas already breathe badly polluted air and suffer from unusually high rates of cancer and liver and kidney ailments, Kelley said.

After tar sands oil began arriving by rail a few years ago, the region has seen mounds of petroleum coke, a toxic byproduct of refining the oil. Fumes from the refineries and the "pet coke" piles are making health problems and the air quality worse, Kelley said.
"Enough is enough. We do not need, nor do we want tar sands materials in our community," he said. "Why add insult to injury? Why bring in more toxic material and process it in a town that's already disproportionately bombarded with toxic fumes? It doesn't make sense. It's not fair."

TransCanada spokesman Davis Sheremata said the company's $5 billion investment in renewable energy sources like wind farms shows its commitment to cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

He referred to a 2010 report by the Royal Society of Canada that said oil extraction at the tar sands is not responsible for health problems in nearby communities and did not contaminate the water supply.

Keystone is a big priority for the Canadian government, America's biggest trading partner and one of its closest allies. The project would initially run from Alberta to Nebraska, then later extend to Texas.