Tell the White House to Cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline
The late December 2011 Payroll Tax Cut agreement created a showdown on the future of the XL Pipeline. The bill gave the President 60 days to decide on the fate of the project. That means a decision will be made by mid-February, 2012. Last November, the Obama Administration had pushed the deadline on its final pipeline decision into early 2013, determining that current impact studies on the proposed pipeline were insufficient to make a final decision.
With the recent Congressional Tax agreement, the timeline has moved up dramatically.
Now is the time to contact the White House, encouraging the President to cancel the project. ASBC does not believe that the Pipeline will create the large number of jobs its supporters contend. As a recent study from Cornell University noted, an equal investment in clean energy generates 3 to 4 times as many jobs as investments in fossil fuels.
The Pipeline will do very little (and at great cost) to decrease the nation’s energy security. In fact, much of the output is destined for export. Instead of endorsing the Pipeline, now is the moment for the President to make a strong case for clean energy fuel sources and jobs — and to refuse ceding a $5 trillion global clean technology market (and the jobs that go with it) to more aggressive competitors like China and Germany.
Please let the President know by phone – 202-456-1111 or email that you support cancelling the project in its entirety.
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President's Announcement to Delay KXL a Move in the Right Direction; Victory for the Economy, Environment, and Renewable Energy
On November 10, 2011 the Obama Administration announced that it would require another environmental impact review before deciding on the ultimate fate of the Keystone XL pipeline. The time needed to conduct this review means that the decision whether or not to build the pipeline would likely be postponed until 2013. This decision has been widely interpreted to mean that the pipeline project will likely not move forward. ASBC welcomes this announcement from the President and urges businesses commited to a clean energy future to maintain their opposition to the pipeline until it is ultimately cancelled. The new environmental review will focus on alternate routes for the pipeline, but the dangers of the project cannot be fixed through re-routing. ASBC urges business leaders who have not yet signed the letter below to do so.
The American Sustainable Business Council urges business leaders to sign the letter below to the White House and the State Department in opposition to the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. As we state in the letter, from a business perspective, we believe that the market would not be able to bear the true public cost of the pipeline without major government subsidies. If the private sector were to internalize the full cost, including the setting up of a fully adequate fund against damage from spills, land despoliation, water clean-up, medical costs, carbon emissions, and other damages, it would not be economically feasible. The pipeline also raises serious environmental and health concerns.
The pipeline would transport 700,000 to a millions barrels of oil per day from Alberta, Canada to the state of Texas, stretching nearly 2,000 miles. The first Keystone pipeline already suffers leakage problems and there is ample reason to believe another Keystone pipeline will do the same. Of great concern is the integrity of the Ogallala Aquifer which provided drinking water for millions of Americans as well as for irrigation. We believe the State Department is seriously misguided in its support for the pipeline and urge President Obama to reject the Keystone XL pipeline and to make the development of our nation’s clean energy economy a top national priority.
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