President Obama rejects the Keystone XL pipeline
Friends of the Earth US is celebrating the Obama administration’s decision to reject the permit for the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline sought by Canadian oil firm TransCanada, determining that the project was not in the national interest.
Canadian oil firm TransCanada, determining that the project was not in the national interest.
no to xl pipeline”President Obama has shown bold leadership in standing up to Big Oil and rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline,” said Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth.
“The climate movement took on Goliath and won, demonstrating its growing strength. Sustained grassroots pressure aimed at holding the president accountable to the public interest proved more powerful than all the lobbyists and campaign cash the oil industry could muster.”
This iconic David versus Goliath victory was fueled by years of persistent grassroots campaigning to stop the project led by indigenous activists, environmentalists, farmers, ranchers and youth climate activists. Americans submitted more than 250,000 public comments against the proposal, several thousand more turned out in small-town Nebraska, in Texas and in Washington, D.C. to testify against the pipeline in public hearings — and 1,253 people played a pivotal role in August by getting arrested during peaceful sit-ins on the president’s doorstep.
The Keystone XL pipeline would have pumped the world’s dirtiest oil – tar sands oil – from Canada across America’s heartland to Texas
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