Fox Valley Citizens for Peace and Justice, Elgin Green Groups, and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Elgin rallied against the Keystone XL Pipeline. on Jan. 13, 2014

The House of Representatives passed it last week. The Senate may pass it next week or two. We hope that President Obama will veto it. By holding this rally, we told ALL our elected officials that we will not quietly accept this destructive action on their part.

 

The Keystone XL pipeline is a threat to our whole ecosystem. Here is why

1. The tar sands oil extraction process uses three barrels of water to extract each single barrel of oil, and 95 percent of that water is so polluted that it must be stored in large human-made pools, where toxic sludge containing substances like cyanide and ammonia work their way into neighboring clean water supplies.
2. If the pipeline leaks, it could contaminate the drinking water supplies of millions of Americans. Trans-Canada’s existing Keystone I tar sands pipeline has reportedly leaked at least 14 times since it went into operation in June 2010, including one spill of 24,000 gallons. The State Department estimate is that the Keystone XL is likely to have perhaps as many as 100 spills over the course of the pipeline’s lifespan. Because Keystone would be carrying tar sands oil, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to clean up those spills.
3. The Keystone XL pipeline would traverse six U.S. states and cross major rivers, plus the Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies water to more than one-fourth of America’s irrigated land and provides drinking water for two million Americans.
4. Keystone XL would accelerate climate change.  Greenhouse gas emissions from tar sands are 81 percent greater than those of conventional oil, according to both the U.S. State Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. The Keystone XL pipeline would carry 830,000 barrels of dirty tar sands oil into the United States daily, and result in climate-damaging emissions equal to adding more than 5.6 million new cars to U.S. roads.
   Many US communities are already suffering the impacts of climate change, through severe storms and flooding, heat waves and crippling droughts, and insect-borne and waterborne disease.
   Proponents argue that constructing Keystone will create thousands of new jobs.  But a more recent report acknowledges that only 50 of those jobs will be permanent ones. We could easily create thousands of new jobs, many of them permanent, by investing in renewable energy like solar, wind, and geothermal.

Call President Obama 202-456-1111, and urge him to Veto to the Keystone Pipeline.
Call Senator Dick Durbin 202- 224-2152 and thank him for voting against it.
Call Senator Mark Kirk 202-224-2854 and ask him to vote against it next time.