The comment about the Keystone pipeline is a bit non sequitur. The Keystone pipeline has nothing to do with fracking at all and has nothing to do with oil wells

The comment about the Keystone pipeline is a bit non sequitur. The Keystone pipeline has nothing to do with fracking at all and has nothing to do with oil wells in the US central midwest. It will carry unconventional heavy crude from the Athabasca oil sands in Northern Alberta to refineries along the US gulf coast. Plus currently, Oil sands is generally mined not drilled -- though as the oil on the surface runs out there will be more in situ wells if the economics can support. Thus far most of the extraction of Athabasca oil sands has been done by open pit mining. The objections to the Keystone pipeline have two main focal points: (1) the risk of spills given the heavy crude is more difficult to clean up, and (2) that it will ease the extraction of oil and put more green house gasses in the atmosphere.