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50 Representatives Urge Obama to Recognize Keystone XL Pipeline’s Threat to Clean Energy Future
Media Releases Featured | No Tar Sands Oil Campaign | June 23, 2010
CONTACT: Cosabeth Bullock, 202-478-6128, cbullock [at] mrss [dot] com
Links to letter and more info available at release’s end
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As details continue to emerge on just how extensively BP cut corners at the expense of safety, and 60,000 barrels of oil gushes into the Gulf each day, nearly two months after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, 50 members of Congress submitted a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to press her and the Obama administration not to rush to approve a new tar sands oil pipeline that would stretch over 2,000 miles of the United States from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
“I have serious reservations about the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline,” said Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “If the spill in the Gulf of Mexico has taught us anything, it is that we must perform far more rigorous oversight and scrutiny of environmentally risky energy projects. Further, it is a wakeup call for this nation to get serious about transitioning away from 19th century fossil fuels to clean and renewable energy sources.”
TransCanada, which operates over 36,000 miles of pipelines across North America and serves as a supplier to oil companies including BP and ExxonMobil, is attempting to gain presidential approval for their Keystone XL pipeline that would pump up to 900,000 barrels of toxic tar sands oil per day across the U.S., more than doubling the country’s consumption of tar sands oil. The congressional letter to Secretary Clinton, led by Congressmen Inslee, Welch and Kucinich, urges the Department of State to thoroughly review the environmental, public health and safety implications of this pipeline before giving the green-light.
“As a member of the Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee, I had the opportunity to alert Cynthia Quarterman, Administrator of the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, of my serious concerns with the safety of the proposed Keystone Xl pipeline,” said Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN). “The Gulf of Mexico tragedy has illuminated what happens when oil companies cut corners, and I think we need to take a step back and conduct a full review of new oil projects in the US. We need to stop promoting filthy tar sands that pollute the air we breathe and water we drink and start increasing development of clean, domestic renewable technologies.”
Tar sands is one of the dirtiest forms of oil production, emitting carbon dioxide at a rate three times higher than conventional oil, using significant amounts of water during extraction, and creating toxic lagoons in the process, which leak over a billion gallons of contaminated water into the environment each year. Meanwhile, Houston, where most of the refining would take place, already struggles to meet air quality standards and is growing increasingly concerned over the impact of refining tar sands crude, which produces higher levels of pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulates and heavy metals.
“If the continuing disaster in the Gulf tells us anything, it is that we must reduce the demand for all oil,” said Peter Lehner, NRDC executive director. “The last thing we need is yet another massive tar sands pipeline to feed our addiction.”
“We are pleased to see the controversy around toxic tar sands oil getting much-deserved attention on Capitol Hill. The Gulf oil disaster has been a wake-up call that has exposed the cost of our desperate search for oil,” said Kate Colarulli with the Sierra Club’s Dirty Fuels campaign. “The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would be another rubber stamp for the oil industry and would undermine the clean energy future that Americans are demanding from our leaders in Washington.”
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For More Information
- Congressional letter
- Fact sheet on the Keystone XL pipeline.
- Sierra Club blog — “We need your voices” against the Keystone XL pipeline
- NRDC blog about the significance of the Congressional letter to the Obama administration
- More info about the pipeline, and the communities and groups working on Keystone XL.
- All dirtyoilsands.org information on the House Keystone XL letter to Secretary Clinton.
- All information about the Keystone XL pipeline available on dirtyoilsands.org.
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, EARTHWORKS, Plains Justice, Rainforest Action Network, Indigenous Environmental Network, Western Organization of Resource Councils, Earthjustice, Global Community Monitor, Forest Ethics, Dogwood Initiative, Honor the Earth, Dakota Rural Action, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Save Union County, Raincoast Conservation Foundation, Sierra Club of Canada – Prairie Chapter.
Tagged with: keystone xl, pipeline, house kxl letter, congress, jay inslee, dennis kucinich, peter welch
