Bloomberg reports that the cancelled Keystone XL pipeline may yield 48,000 tons of scrap metal. That’s for its 107 mile length. That’s not all the pipeline in the world. And that doesn’t count the drilling equipment, the pumps, the compressors, or the countless machines that burn the fossil fuels these carry.

So the next time you hear or read about someone complaining about how dirty producing the components of wind turbines and photovoltaic panels is for the environment, you might want to remind them of this small fact.