Natural Resources Defence Council
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
In another direct attack on our climate, the Trump administration just approved permits allowing the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline to move forward.
But they’ll have to face NRDC in court first. We’re filing suit to stop this disastrous pipeline in its tracks.
We need to make sure they also face massive public resistance. Let’s send President Trump and his climate-denying Cabinet of Polluters a powerful message — that we, the American people, stand together in unity in total opposition to the Keystone XL.
Our goal: 100,000 Solidarity Pledge signers by Earth Day, April 22. Please sign now, and then spread the word.
Why would the Keystone XL be such a disaster, for people and the planet?
It’s an oil spill catastrophe: The pipeline would send hundreds of thousands of barrels of sludgy and toxic tar sands oil a day from Canada’s endangered boreal forest through the American heartland, endangering countless communities and lakes, rivers and streams with the risk of horrendous, difficult to clean up oil spills.
It’s a climate disaster: The tar sands oil that the Keystone XL pipeline would carry is one of the dirtiest fuels on the planet — from the tar sands mine to the gas tank, it generates 81% more carbon pollution than conventional crude. With our climate crisis worsening, the Keystone XL is a ticking climate time bomb we can’t afford to let explode.
It’s an economic pipedream: Despite false claims from President Trump of energy security and an economic bonanza, the pipeline is only projected to create 35 permanent jobs after it’s built, and almost certainly will not be built with American steel, as the President likes to boast.
Simply put, this pipeline is all risk and no reward — and it must be rejected.
Donald Trump is in for the fight of his life. TransCanada still has to win approval for the project from the state of Nebraska — and that means winning over the ranchers, Native Americans, activists and landowners whose land the pipeline would cross, and who have so far denied TransCanada the right of way.
And NRDC’s legal team is already preparing to file suit in federal court. This permit was issued illegally — without any attempt to produce a current and proper environmental impact assessment.
All of this means there’s still time to stop the Keystone XL, if we act boldly, act quickly and act together.
Sincerely,
Rhea Suh
President, NRDC
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The “Icefields Trail” project is a proposed paved corridor stretching 109km from the town of Jasper through Jasper National Park’s wilderness to Wilcox campground near the Columbia Icefields. This proposal is inconsistent with the federal government’s commitment to limit development in our national parks, and their legal obligation to put ecological integrity first in park management. It is also contrary to Parks Canada’s obligations to protect species at risk in the park, as the proposed trail would fragment and destroy critical habitat for threatened woodland caribou and sensitive grizzly bears. This project was announced with no prior public discussion in the 2016 federal budget, raising many questions regarding the origin of the project and the transparency of Park’s Canada’s decision and project approval process. In early 2017, the price tag of the project jumped inexplicably from $65.9 million to $86.4 million – a staggering sum considering that Parks Canada’s conservation staff and budget have been cut by one third since 2012. Write to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change today telling her your concerns about the Icefields Trail. |
Northern Alberta Chapter, CPAWS
Climate Blog by 2017 Colorado Trained Climate Reality Leader 