The following video explains that “TransCanada, a Canadian pipeline company, has proposed a massive pipeline which would carry up to 900,000 barrels per day of tar sands oil from operations in Alberta, Canada, more than 2,000 miles to refineries on the Gulf Coast. The pipeline, called Keystone XL, would cut through six American heartland states from Montana to Texas. If built, our public water supplies, crop lands, wildlife habitats and recreational opportunities will all be at risk of dangerous tar sands oil leaks“:
This is an update to my previous blog Calling Canadians to Urge Obama to Protect the World from Deadly Tar Sands Oil.
Here is a letter to Canadians from Environmental Defence regarding the TransCanada Corp’s proposed $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline:
“Dear Canadians,
The first cut is the deepest. Business as usual for the tar sands industry has come to an end.
Today, we can all celebrate a huge victory. President Obama has agreed to delay the construction of TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline in order to further review its potential impacts, including climate change.
This shows the importance of standing up for the clean energy future we want. Just 3 days ago, 12,000 Americans showed up at the White House to urge President Obama to stick by his pledge to reduce dependence on oil.
Please take a minute to send a thank you note to President Obama.
Canada needs to pay attention to this message. There is no such thing as “business as usual” for the tar sands industry any longer. The longer Canada delays getting serious about reining in tar sands pollution and transitioning to a clean energy economy, the more of this type of controversy we should expect.
The delay announced today has the potential to not only protect a water source that provides 3 million people with safe drinking water from the damage of an oil spill, but it also gives more time to consider the impacts of the proposed pipeline on efforts to fight global warming. Our collective efforts are having an impact.
The near-doubling of tar sands exports to the U.S. that would be needed to fill the pipeline would take North America in the wrong direction, increasing our dependence on oil at a time when scientists around the world are calling for us to dramatically transition away from fossil fuels to avoid catastrophic climate change.
This would not have happened without your hard work, and the thousands of other people like you who have voiced opposition to continued tar sands expansion.
Please consider sending a message to the White House to thank president Obama for listening to these concerns.
Thank you,
Gillian McEachern
Program Manager, Climate and Energy“
Please click here to learn more about what Environmental Defence is doing to expose the Tar Sands.
However, the Canadian government and the oil industry, have their “focus now turns to Enbridge Inc’s C$5.5 billion ($5.4 billion) Northern Gateway pipeline across the Rocky Mountains to Canada’s Pacific Coast, where more than half a million barrels of crude a day could be loaded onto tankers and shipped to Asia.
More than 3,000 people have registered to be heard at National Energy Board hearings on the Northern Gateway proposal, which are due to start in January. The project faces stiff opposition from environmentalists and several native groups, which have said they would not want the pipeline crossing their land under any conditions.“
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