National Climate Assessment Strengthens the Case for Keystone Rejection

As pro-Keystone XL Senators make a doomed attempt to force approval of the tar sands pipeline, the release of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's third National Climate Assessment highlights just how important it is to the planet's future that we reject it.

Featuring input from over a dozen federal agencies and hundreds of leading scientists and experts, the report showed that climate change, "once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present". The report details the ways climate change is already being felt in the United States, in the form of extreme weather events like heat waves, rainstorms, floods, and wildfires, that are increasingly frequent and severe.

Analysis of the proposed pipeline shows that it would create significant carbon emissions and further worsen global climate change. A report by NRDC showed that, over its 50-year timeline, Keystone XL would add up to 1.2 billion metric tons of carbon pollution compared to traditional crude, the equivalent of the annual carbon emissions produced by from 344 coal fired power plants, or 253 million passenger vehicles. That represents enough carbon pollution to effectively cancel out even the most ambitious climate initiatives the Obama Administration has taken on.

This report is a reminder that, as we face a growing climate crisis, we must be working to move away from fossil fuels and limit carbon emissions. With this in mind, it is clear that Keystone XL is a step in the wrong direction.