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 In a historic victory for the environment and the American people, President Obama has rejected a permit for the massively destructive Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The decision came despite major pressure from the oil industry and its Congressional boosters, who threatened "huge political consequences" if the pipeline was not approved. "President Obama put our air, land, water and health -- our national interest -- above the interests of the oil industry," said NRDC president Frances Beinecke. "His decision represents a triumph of truth over Big Oil's bullying tactics and its disinformation campaign."
However, the battle's not over. Big Oil and its Congressional allies have vowed to revive the Keystone XL and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill are now threatening to force approval of the pipeline by attaching it to the payroll tax bill or the highway bill. NRDC's Members and online activists are calling on Congress to reject all attempts to raise the Keystone XL from the dead by tacking it onto unrelated legislation.
The Keystone XL pipeline, proposed by TransCanada, would carry almost a million barrels a day of volatile raw bitumen from tar sands strip mines and drill sites in Alberta. It would cross eight U.S. states and the vast Ogallala Aquifer, terminating at refineries in Texas. It would double the supply of tar sands crude -- the world's dirtiest oil -- to the United States and unleash massive quantities of global-warming pollution.
Back in November, responding to a swell of public protest, President Obama announced that he would not approve the pipeline as nearly all observers had expected. Instead, he called on the State Department to undertake a new and thorough review of the pipeline's true environmental costs -- exactly what NRDC had been calling for over the past two years. The policy reversal came just days after NRDC's founding director, John Adams, and 350.org's Bill McKibben addressed an historic rally of ranchers, union members, First Nations leaders and environmentalists who encircled the White House in a show of support for a clean energy future without tar sands oil.
Unimpeded, the new review process would have taken until early 2013. However, in an attempt to fast-track approval of the Keystone XL, Republican leaders in Congress used an unrelated tax-relief bill to pass a measure in December that required President Obama to make a decision on the pipeline within 60 days -- without waiting for the full environmental review. Despite terrific pressure from the oil industry in an election year, on January 18 he stood strong and rejected the controversial project.
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Photo: NRDC's founding director, John Adams (center) with Bill McKibben (blue shirt) at White House rally
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