The Progressive

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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Daniel Kessler, 350.org, 510-501-1779, daniel@350.org

Concerned Citizens Submit 440,432 Comments to State Department Over Keystone XL

Comes to 500 comments for every mile of the dirty tar sands pipeline

WASHINGTON

Environmentalists today delivered 440,432 comments from concerned citizens asking Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to make sure that climate change be included in the scope of her department's Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

"There is too much on the line for the State Department to fail again at evaluating the effect tar sands and Keystone XL will have on climate change," said Felice Stadler, director of National Wildlife Federation's dirty energy program. "The administration's own EPA has said a decades-long commitment to high carbon fuels has national security implications. This alone is reason enough to give this issue serious consideration."

Building Keystone XL would negate climate accomplishments of the Obama Administration. By bringing 830,000 barrels of oil daily through the breadbasket of the US to the Gulf Coast, from where it can be exported overseas, the pipeline will almost certainly increase tar sands production, unleashing huge amounts of emissions.

Statements by the tar sands industry and the Canadian government confirm that Keystone XL is linked to increased tar sands production, and other development projects remain mired in controversy and speculation.

"This summer's extreme weather should be a wake up call to the Obama Administration," said Elijah Zarlin, Senior Campaign Manager at CREDO Action. "Yet it's not clear if the State Department will keep President Obama's promise to evaluate the significant climate impacts of this pipeline. That's why hundreds of thousands of Americans are sending a clear message to the Obama Administration today: Don't XL climate change!"

The world is experiencing the effects of climate change. June broke or tied 3,215 high-temperature records across the United States, and it was the 328th consecutive month in which the temperature of the entire globe exceeded the 20th-century average.

NOTE:

1. Many organizations worked diligently to collect petition signatures, including Friends of the Earth, Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, 350.org, Natural Resources Defense Council, League of Conservation Voters, Center for Biological Diversity, CREDO, and Democracy for America

350 is building a future that's just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of the climate crisis. We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.