July, 08 2010, 12:29pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Kelly Trout, Friends of the Earth U.S., 202-222-0722 (office), 717-439-0346 (cell), ktrout@foe.org
Tony Iallonardo, National Wildlife Federation, 202-797-6612, iallonardot@nwf.org
Nationwide Day of Action Condemns Risky Canadian Dirty Oil Pipeline
Clean energy advocates, landowners, indigenous activists unite to say pipeline puts lives, environment and property in peril
WASHINGTON
Clean energy advocates, landowners, and indigenous activists are
uniting today to condemn a proposed pipeline that would bring toxic tar
sands oil from Canada to the U.S. in demonstrations, community events
and meetings with government officials happening across the country.
(Media contact information for individual events provided
below.)
About 100,000 Americans wrote the Obama administration urging it to
stop the pipeline, called the Keystone XL, during a public comment
period that closed July 2. Following a July 16 deadline for agency
input, the administration will determine whether Canada's pipeline is in
the "national interest." The administration's final permitting decision
is expected this fall.
Concerned citizens are gathering today at Canadian consulates in
Boston, New York, Seattle and Detroit, and demonstrating outside the
Canadian embassy in Washington, D.C. to speak out against more dirty oil
and for clean, safe energy alternatives.
In states that would be crossed by the pipeline, including Montana,
South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, citizens are holding
events and meeting with their elected representatives who are home for
the congressional recess.
A group of landowners whose property would be encroached upon by the
pipeline is also in Washington, D.C. directly appealing to Obama
administration officials and members of Congress to protect their
farmland and livelihoods. TransCanada, the company seeking to build the
pipeline, has applied for a safety waiver that would allow it to use
thinner-than-normal steel.
"People have watched one oil tragedy unfold in the Gulf of Mexico and
are demanding action to prevent another," said Erich Pica, president of
Friends of the Earth and a speaker at the Washington, D.C. event. "If
President Obama is serious about leading our country to safe, clean
alternatives to oil, he can make no choice other than to reject this
pipeline, which endangers people's health and ecosystems from Canada to
Texas."
Organizations sponsoring the day of action include Corporate Ethics
International, Friends of the Earth, Indigenous Environmental Network,
National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council and
Sierra Club.
Event Contact Information:
Washington, D.C.
Location: 501 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, across from the Canadian embassy
Speakers include: Actress and National Wildlife Federation board member
Gloria Reuben and Friends of the Earth's president, Erich Pica
Contact: Kelly Trout, Friends of the Earth U.S., 202-222-0722 (office),
717-439-0346 (cell), ktrout@foe.org
Boston
Contact: Ben Wright, Environment Massachusetts, 617-747-4313 (office),
813-283-8034 (cell), ben@environmentmassachusetts.org
Detroit
Contact: Jesse Worker, Clean Water Action, 812-606-1748, jworker@cleanwater.org
Houston
Contact: Evelyn Merz, Sierra Club, 713-644-8228, elmerz@hal-pc.org
Lincoln, Nebraska
Contact: Jane Kleeb, 402-705-3622, eatingpolitics@gmail.com
New York City
Contact: Lauren Schuster, NY Public Interest Research Group,
347-729-4829, lschuster@nypirg.org
Rapid City, South Dakota
Contact: Chas Jewett, 605-431-3594, chasjewett@gmail.com
Seattle
Contact: Robyn Carmichael, National Wildlife Federation, 206-285-8707 x.
110, carmichaelr@nwf.org
Sioux City, South Dakota
Contact: Pete Carrels, Sierra Club, 605-216-1233, peter.carrels@sierraclub.org
Friends of the Earth fights for a more healthy and just world. Together we speak truth to power and expose those who endanger the health of people and the planet for corporate profit. We organize to build long-term political power and campaign to change the rules of our economic and political systems that create injustice and destroy nature.
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