November 6 Keystone XL Pipeline Action at the Whitehouse

by Jean Larson

On Sunday, November 6, I helped circle the Whitehouse with over 10,000 people from across the US and Canada who want President Obama to reject the proposed Keystone XL pipeline: a 1,700-mile pipeline, which would transport tar-sands oil from Canada to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico.

This project is harmful to the First Nation peoples of Canada, wildlife and water along the pipeline footprint, young people, you…and the future of the planet and all life.

Already the Tars Sands are the largest industrial energy project on the planet. The toxic waste ponds created by the process can be seen from space. Building the Keystone XL Pipeline would remove the first Nations people, the boreal forest and wildlife from an area the size of Florida and increase the current tar sands oil production by 30%.

Already the polluted water and air from the project in Alberta have sickened native peoples and animals. Migrating water birds land in the toxic ponds and die. Caribou herds have been decreased by half. The planned pipeline through Nebraska would run through the Ogallala Aquifer, which serves the middle third of the US.  The Keystone #1 has had 13 blowouts in 12 months.

The State Department hired a consulting company to assess the environmental impact of the pipeline. According to yesterday’s New York Times:

“More than a dozen members of Congress had asked for an independent inquiry into the department’s review of the 1,700-mile pipeline, citing reports in The New York Times and elsewhere that the State Department allowed the pipeline developer, TransCanada, to choose the company that prepared an assessment of the project’s environmental impact. 

That company, Cardno Entrix, listed TransCanada as a “major client” on other projects and has a financial relationship with the pipeline developer.

The assessment found that the project would have “minimal” environmental impact even though it would pass through Nebraska’s sensitive Sand Hills region and traverse the Ogallala Aquifer, a critical source of drinking water in the Great Plains. The Environmental Protection Agency raised serious objections to an earlier version of the impact statement but has not issued its final verdict. “

President Obama alone makes the decision on this project.

On November 28th, visit or call the nearest Obama 2012 campaign office to say that we expect the President to live up to his promises and reject the Keystone XL Pipeline.

For more info, watch the YouTube Tar Sands Extraction: The Dirty Truth.