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Mayors ask State Department to get it right on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline review
By Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, NRDC
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Today 25 American mayors spoke out against the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. They are concerned that the upcoming second round of environmental reviews should be detailed and thorough. They rightly ask that this time the State Department take a look at how expansion of high-carbon tar sands imports can undermine municipal clean energy initiatives.
The mayors sent a letter expressing concern over the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Representing cities and towns across the United States, their letter notes that the controversial project might “undermine the good work being done in local communities across the country to fight climate change and reduce our dependence on oil.” In light of an expected new environmental review of the proposed pipeline, the Mayors ask “that the State Department issue a thorough and detailed supplemental environmental impact statement for the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline that evaluates the need and impacts of this pipeline, including on local community efforts to build clean energy economies.”
This letter comes at a critical time in the environmental review of the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. It is important that the State Department listen to the voices of cities as they are on our clean energy frontlines in their efforts to reduce our demand for oil through smart growth, transit, environmentally sustainable biofuels, and electric and hybrid vehicles. These cities do not want to see increase of a high-carbon fuel like tar sands undermine their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and their use of oil. And, when a community has the bad luck to be along a pipeline path, they bear the direct consequences of spills and explosions. So it is no surprise that cities of all sizes and from every part of the country are calling for a detailed and comprehensive environmental review of the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline that includes the impacts on local communities.
Keep reading this blog post on the NRDC site
Tagged with: keystone xl, transcanada, pipeline, natural resources defense council
