Jan 22 Release: Nebraska Re-Route

 

WASHINGTON, DC -- 350.org Executive Director May Boeve had the following response to Governor Heineman's approval of the new Keystone XL pipeline route through Nebraska: 

 

"The latest pipeline review still ignores the biggest impact of Keystone XL: climate change. The tar sands oil that would flow through Keystone XL is the dirtiest form of fuel on the planet and burning it would have a devastating effect on our planet. 

 

This decision is now firmly on President Obama's desk. Approving Keystone XL would make a mockery of the commitment he made at the inauguration to take action on climate change. 

 

We'll be at the White House with tens of thousands of people this President's Day to make sure Obama lives up to his own words and protects us and our children by saying no to Keystone XL and the tar sands. "

 

In August 2011, 350.org helped coordinate the arrests of over 1,200 people at the White House to protest Keystone XL. That November, 15,000 people surrounded the White House, pushing President Obama to delay the pipeline's approval. This February 17, over tens of thousands of people are expected to attend the Forward on Climate Rally to push President Obama to deny Keystone XL once and for all.

 

Last week two new reports showed that the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would damage the climate much more than previously thought. A Pembina analysis showed how Keystone XL is an integral part of the industry’s plan to nearly triple tar sands production by 2030 (1); and an Oil Change International report showed that proven tar sands reserves of Canada will yield roughly 5 billion tons of an oil processing byproduct, known as petcoke – enough to fully fuel 111 U.S. coal plants to 2050. (2)

 

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1. http://www.pembina.org/pub/2407

2. http://priceofoil.org/2013/01/17/petroleum-coke-the-coal-hiding-in-the-tar-sands/