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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Brett Hartl, (202) 817-8121, bhartl@biologicaldiversity.org

Approval of Disastrous Keystone XL Pipeline Imminent

WASHINGTON

In a reversal of yet another Obama administration environmental action, reports surfaced today that the Trump administration will approve the Keystone XL pipeline by Monday. The State Department, now headed by former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, will apparently grant a permit for the pipeline.

"The Keystone XL pipeline is a disaster for people, wildlife and the planet," said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. "The Trump administration is taking us dangerously off course by approving this dirty, dangerous pipeline. We don't have four years to wait to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and avoid a climate catastrophe."

Keystone XL would carry up to 35 million gallons of oil every day from Canada's tar sands -- one of the dirtiest, most carbon-intensive energy sources in the world -- to refineries in Texas.

The 1,700-mile pipeline would cross rivers, streams and wetlands that are a source for drinking water for people and provide habitat for at least 20 rare and endangered species, including whooping cranes, pallid sturgeons, interior least terns and piping plovers. Since 1986 pipeline accidents have spilled an average of 76,000 barrels per year, or more than 3 million gallons of oil and other substances.

At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive.

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