Also bizarrely claims new State Department report showing minimal environmental impact from Keystone is really a bad thing.
The more people learn about the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, the less they like it. Despite what we might be hearing in industry spin, the environmental report released by the State Department Friday confirms that tar sands crude means a dirtier, more dangerous future for our children all so that the oil industry can reach the higher prices of overseas markets. That’s right, overseas markets, which is where the majority of this processed oil will end up. This dirty energy project is all risk and no reward for the American people.
You’ll remember that the president said he won’t greenlight a project that raises the dangers of climate change. The State Department report makes it clear that this is exactly what Keystone XL would do. Bottom line: the tar sands pipeline fails the president’s climate test. It’s a bad idea. It needs to be denied.
When it comes to climate change, we know we have to do things differently. As the president said in his State of the Union address, we have to “act with more urgency — because a changing climate is already harming western communities struggling with drought, and coastal cities dealing with floods.” Climate change hits us at home: hurting our health and our children. How does this translate into everyday decisions? We need to stop approving dirty energy projects that will only drive us further into the climate danger zone.
The president has the chance to get it right on Keystone XL. Whereas past State Department reports didn’t even bother to look at the climate pollution from tar sands, claiming that they’d be developed with or without Keystone XL, this report is different. In this report, the State Department acknowledged that Keystone XL will drive tar sands expansion and climate change if we see low oil prices and other pipeline and rail projects don’t move ahead.