September, 22 2010, 01:23pm EDT

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Alex Moore, Friends of the Earth, 202-222-0733 (office), amoore@foe.org
Cat Glenn, New York Action Network, cglenn@fordham.edu
Pipeline Protesters Greet President Obama at Fundraiser in New York
Activists against piping dirty tar sands oil into the U.S. ask Obama to reject the Keystone XL pipeline
WASHINGTON
As President Obama arrives here for a Democratic campaign fundraiser
today, activists with signs and banners are calling on him to oppose the
Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry dirty tar sands oil to the U.S.
"The proposed Keystone XL pipeline would leave many communities
vulnerable to oil spills and leaks," said Alex Moore, dirty fuels
campaigner with Friends of the Earth. "Piping tar sands oil across the
United States would pollute the air and water, ultimately harming the
health of people in the path of the pipeline."
The demonstration taking place today outside the Roosevelt Hotel in
Manhattan was organized by Friends of the Earth and New York Action
Network. Demonstrators are confronting the president with a banner
reading: "President Obama: Stop the Keystone Pipeline, Protect Our
Water."
At the same time in Washington, D.C., a delegation of indigenous
leaders from the United States and Canada were meeting with the White
House Council on Environmental Quality to express their concerns about
tar sands development in their communities.
"When New Yorkers elected President Obama, we were voting for the clean
energy future he promised, not more dirty oil pipelines," said Cat
Glenn, a student at Fordham University and member of the New York Action
Network. "President Obama has an opportunity to show leadership by
denying the permit for the pipeline and preventing future fossil fuel
disasters."
The Keystone XL pipeline would carry oil from Canada's tar sands, the
dirtiest oil available, through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas,
Oklahoma and Texas. In recent weeks, Congress has been investigating
pipeline safety following incidents in Michigan and Illinois that
spilled a combined one million gallons of oil.
More information on the Keystone XL pipeline is available at: https://www.foe.org/keystone-xl-pipeline
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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Biden Denounced for 'Appalling' Approval of Willow Oil Project
"There is simply no justification for President Biden's decision to approve a massive new oil drilling scheme that will lead to decades of air and climate pollution," said one critic.
Mar 13, 2023
U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday greenlighted a massive oil drilling project on federal land in Alaska, eliciting outrage from climate advocates who say the administration's accompanying restrictions on oil and gas leasing in the region cannot make up for the destruction set to be unleashed by the approved Willow project.
Progressives sought for months to dissuade Biden from approving ConocoPhillips' $8 billion Willow project, noting that it could enable the production of more than 600 million barrels of crude over 30 years. If all of that oil is burned, roughly 280 million metric tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions will be spewed into the atmosphere at a time when United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warns that the planet is reaching a "point of no return."
"There is simply no justification for President Biden's decision to approve a massive new oil drilling scheme that will lead to decades of air and climate pollution," Food & Water Watch executive director Wenonah Hauter said in a statement.
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"It's insulting that Biden thinks this will change our minds about the Willow project," Kristen Monsell, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. "Protecting one area of the Arctic so you can destroy another doesn't make sense, and it won't help the people and wildlife who will be upended by the Willow project. We need to protect the entire Arctic and stop building massive oil and gas developments that will contribute to greenhouse gas emissions for years to come."
"Biden approved Willow knowing full well that it'll cause massive and irreversible destruction, which is appalling," said Monsell. "People and wildlife will suffer, and extracting and burning more fossil fuel will warm the climate even faster. Biden has no excuse for letting this project go forward in any form. New Arctic drilling makes no sense, and we'll fight hard to keep ConocoPhillips from breaking ground."
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Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday night called for a full repeal of the 2018 banking deregulations signed into law by former President Donald Trump and declared that "now is not the time for taxpayers bail out Silicon Valley Bank"—the California bank that collapsed Friday.
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Warren Gunnels, longtime staffer and top advisor to Sanders, made the connection between venture capitalists clamoring for a speedy government intervention to save the banking sector from a wider shock and the same kind of people who have adamantly opposed financial relief for the struggling middle- and working-class Americans:
As the Washington Postreports, "The decision by Treasury to backstop all deposits at SVB and Signature — not just those up to $250,000 that are insured under federal law — rested on a judgment that it was necessary to avoid a wider 'systemic' meltdown. The move will likely ignite a political firestorm over the decision to protect the assets of tech firms, venture capitalists, and other rich people in California."
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Aramco said its banner profits—driven by "stronger crude oil prices, higher volumes sold, and improved margins for refined products"—were up nearly 47% compared to 2021, a windfall the company has used to reward investors.
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