President Barack Obama has pledged to veto a bill to force the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.
The White House announcement came as the new Republican-led Congress was sworn in, with GOP leaders promising to make Keystone a top priority in the early part of the session.
“It’s encouraging to see President Obama stand up to the bullies in Congress who want to ram this project through,” said Peter Galvin, director of programs at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Keystone would be a disaster for our climate and wildlife, so here’s hoping this is his first step toward killing this project once and for all.”
The president already said he won’t approve Keystone XL if it significantly exacerbates the problem of carbon pollution. The administration’s statement on Jan. 6 sets up a likely showdown with Congress.
“This is the moment where we need President Obama to stand strong and on the right side of history,” Galvin said. “Keystone and projects like it have driven us into the climate crisis. The first step toward getting us out of this hole is to stop digging deeper.”
On a daily basis, the proposed pipeline would carry up to 35 million gallons of oil strip-mined from Canada’s “tar sands.” The pipeline would cross the Midwest and deliver oil to the Gulf of Mexico, where opponents say much of it would be exported to other countries.
Along the way the pipeline would cut through rivers, streams and prime wildlife habitat for at least 12 threatened and endangered species, including whooping cranes and pallid sturgeon, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
Strip-mining of oil from Alberta’s tar sands also is destroying tens of thousands of acres of boreal forest and polluting hundreds of millions of gallons of water from the Athabasca River, in the process creating toxic ponds so large they can be seen from space.
Extraction and refinement of tar sands oil produces twice as many greenhouse gases per barrel than conventional oil and represents a massive new source of fossil fuels that leading climate scientist Dr. James Hansen has called “game over” for our ability to avoid a climate catastrophe.
TransCanada’s existing Keystone I tar sands pipeline has reportedly leaked at least 14 times since it went into operation in June 2010, including one spill of 24,000 gallons. The State Department’s environmental reviews have pointed out that spills from Keystone XL are likely to occur, estimating that there could be as many as about 100 spills over the course of the pipeline’s lifespan.
350.org founder Bill McKibben, responding to the White House announcement, said, “This is a tribute to the millions of people who have made this one of the center pieces of a fast growing climate movement. So far their desire to protect the land and climate have been a match for the fountains of dirty money that constitute the oil industry’s only real argument.”
Rainforest Action Network’s climate program director, Amanda Starbuck, commented, “This is a testament to the dedication and resolve of millions of grassroots activists who have for years fought to stop this pipeline, against all odds. Together this movement has marched, written letters, sat in at the White House and along the route of the pipeline, and self-organized a large-scale network ready to do whatever it takes to win a rejection on Keystone. It’s an important day for the climate and for communities when the President decides to side with the people over the fossil fuel corporations who are wrecking our climate for profit.”
Rainforest Action Network has been fighting the KXL pipeline since 2009. With partners CREDO and the Other 98 percent, RAN organized the Keystone XL Pledge of Resistance Network, which has trained thousands of people in civil disobedience. To date, almost 100,000 people have signed the Keystone XL Pledge of Resistance, and have committed to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience to stop the pipeline.
