Uploaded on May 6, 2011
TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline is not good for America. It must be stopped! Go to sierraclub.org/tarsands and send a message to President Obama, telling him to reject this dangerous pipeline and say "no!" to destructive tar sands oil.
Hundreds of Concerned Citizens Protest Poison Tar Sands Oil Pipeline
Canadian oil giant Enbridge is quietly and quickly pushing through a massive expansion to run tar sands oil through the Northeast to the coasts of Maine. The scariest part is that they may not even be required to receive a permit or undergo any environmental review, unless we put of a fight. Please help protect our rivers, lakes, and bays and ask the State Department to require Enbridge's partner, the Portland Montreal Pipeline Company, to apply for a Presidential Permit, including a rigorous environmental review and opportunity for public comment, before they are allowed to move forward with this dangerous project.
Tar sands oil is one of the dirtiest fossil fuels on earth. The thick, toxic crude is mined from beneath Canada's pristine Boreal Forest, destroying this important carbon reservoir in the process. Top climate scientist James Hansen has said that developing all of this toxic and destructive resource would mean "game over" for the climate. Furthermore, the thick crude must be mixed with lighter, highly toxic dilutants and pumped through a pipeline at high temperature and pressure. Pumping this toxic, sandy mixture is like blasting liquid sand paper through a pipeline, making them more likely to rupture. When this material spills, the dispersants vaporize, poisoning the air with cancer-causing chemicals. The thick tar sands sink in water and stick to sediments and soil, making cleanup nearly impossible. This is why more than two years later, 390 acres of the Kalamazoo River are still contaminated with sunken tar sands, despite a record-breaking $800 million cleanup effort.
Don't let the Connecticut River, the Androscoggin River, Sebago Lake, Casco Bay, and other pristine New England waterways suffer the same fate as the Kalamazoo River. As a highly visible public official, your opinion carries weight with the State Department -- will you ask the State Department to require the Portland Pipeline Company to apply for a Presidential Permit, including a rigorous environmental review and opportunity for public comment, before they are allowed to move forward with this dangerous project?
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