WE DID!!!!
ONCE transcanada asked for a delay on approval for their proposed keystone xl pipeline things moved very fast considering decisions had to be made in D.C. Thankfully, Pres Obama made the right choice. To grant a delay on the decision would have wiped out any credibility the American delegation to the Paris Climate Summit. While Pres Obama said he didn't like the way the whole debate over keystone xl became so politicized by both those for and against the proposed pipeline, his decision to deny the application for keystone xl is nothing but political. He has not been the champion of the environment he claimed he would be when campaigning for the presidency. He can not go to Paris empty handed and expect to be taken seriously. So he stopped the whole transcanada project through the U.S. One of the best direct results of his decision? shell oil canceled their new tar sands operations in Alberta. Be assured, this issue is not over, and if a republican wins the presidency in 2016 transcanada may be able to reapply to the state department and would probably get fast track approval. Here's a bit of a time line of how this played out this week from +350.org , Scientific American and +NPR
FROM 360.org 2NOV15
BREAKING: TransCanada asks for KXL application "suspension"
Bill McKibben and 350.org's Keystone XL Team <350@350.org>
Well, somewhat astonishing news tonight. Transcanada—the company that was so sure it would be building the Keystone Pipeline that it mowed the 1700 mile route and stockpiled the necessary pipe across the Midwest—tonight said it wanted to suspend its application.
This is—make no mistake—a massive victory for people power. You emailed, you phoned, you marched, and in record numbers you went to jail. That’s what it took to persuade the arrogant oil industry they simply couldn’t prevail in their plan to pump the world’s filthiest oil across the heart of the continent.
They’re clearly pursuing a gambit—knowing they’ve lost, they’re trying to ask for some extra innings from the umpire, on the theory that they’ll re-submit a new route for the pipeline after the next election. President Obama shouldn’t give it to them. He should finally break his silence on Keystone and say the most important thing: it fails the climate test that he laid out. It will help cook the planet. It’s a bad idea no matter what route it takes, because it’s a fuse to one of the planet’s nastiest carbon bombs.
If President Obama rejects this pipeline once and for all, he’ll go to Paris with boosted credibility—the world leader who was willing to shut down a big project on climate grounds. Truthfully, though, we know it was a movement that shut it down: First Nations and Indigenous Peoples, climate scientists, farmers and ranchers, ministers and rabbis, young people and old people.
Tell President Obama not to let TransCanada play for time. It’s time to reject this pipeline once and for all.
They told us it was a done deal. We are an inch away from undoing it completely. And in the process, we’ve helped build a movement ready to take down hundreds of other fossil fuel projects and keep fossil fuels where they belong—underground.
Thank you all for your relentlessness. Let's not stop now.
Onward,
Bill, Sara, Jason, Rae, Jamie, Deirdre and the rest of 350.org's KXL team
350.org is building a global climate movement. Become a sustaining donor to keep this movement strong and growing.
Why Keystone XL Is Dead
Once seeking a fast approval, TransCanada wants to pause the pipeline’s review
PIPELINE PROBLEMS: The Keystone XL pipeline has faced challenges based on its proposed route through Nebraska.
© David Biello
But with oil hovering around $50 per barrel, companies working the oil sands could barely make existing projects worthwhile, let alone start new ones. For example, oil giant Shell not only withdrew from its Arctic oil ambitions but also shelved plans for more oil sands action at Pierre River and Carmon Creek, eating billions of dollars in investment.
What did Shell blame for its retrenchment? The lack of infrastructure to move oil from the tar sands into the global oil market.
That problem just got worse. The builder of the 830,000 barrel-per-day Keystone XL Pipeline—enough alone to increase oil sands production by more than 40 percent—wants a time out. TransCanada has asked the U.S. State Department to pause its review (pdf) of the pipeline that crosses an international border for roughly a year while the state of Nebraska deliberates about changes in the proposed route, also, perhaps, amid concerns that the Obama administration might reject the pipeline outright.
In fact, with hindsight, if TransCanada had simply followed this new route from the beginning in September of 2008, the $8 billion, nearly 2,000 kilometer-long pipeline would likely be up and running today. The new route follows existing easements rather than cutting a new swath through private properties and seizing land. Instead of a quiet approval, there have been seven years of delay, legal wrangling and, most importantly, activism.
TransCanada could also be holding out for a more friendly U.S. administration, one easier on the industrial infrastructure that supports the fossil-fuel economy and more favorable toward Canada's tar sands. The company could also be hoping for more expensive oil to revive the good times in Alberta's tar patch. But the momentum of this fossil-fuel juggernaut is hard to stop and oil production from the tar sands will continue to increase even as the companies producing it may end up suffering a loss on that low-price oil. The excess oil will help keep global prices low.
Still, Keystone XL is not dead, merely sleeping. While the pipeline proposal slumbers, circumstances will continue to change, however. Already, Hillary Clinton, the presumed Democratic candidate for president, has explicitly rejected the pipeline. While Republican contenders Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio have indicated they would approve the pipeline as soon as possible. And it's possible the current occupant of the White House could reject the pipeline before leaving in 2017.
Regardless of what happens at the national level, Nebraska and the issue of state's rights still mean the pipeline might not go through. After all, even if the federal government approves the border-crossing, that does not obligate the Cornhusker State to approve the pipeline's path through its territory. And if the world decides to get serious about climate change, tar sands—among the world’s most polluting forms of oil—may not find favor anywhere.
![Pay Dirt: How to Turn Tar Sands into Oil [Slide Show]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sQCWoufIHvJJakaLBNHhDmZZY0DlYP6rj-jViEtrFt-t4JDGmDvEKNJDW8wJZmbysswMghMzb_4zTLEUkPqSV4cW4bPM9xFqyCN8dOZ4L3F_1pYzPAlkCNoUzPoz0EwlVcWsJIfCsgYlPaL89cNXUUivATBL4UcEYCiYiAAUvrSotOFw=s0-d)
BREAKING: Keystone XL pipeline rejected!
Bill McKibben and 350.org's Keystone XL Team <350@350.org>
Friends,
We just made history together. 4 years to the day after we surrounded the White House, President Obama has rejected the Presidential Permit for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline!
This is huge.
A head of state has never rejected a major fossil fuel project because of its climate impacts before. The President's decision sets the standard for what climate action looks like: standing up to the fossil fuel industry, and keeping fossil fuels in the ground.
Make no mistake: this victory belongs to us, the movement. President Obama's courage today is a reflection of the courage shown by thousands of people who have sat in, marched, organized, (and opened a lot of emails) across North America against this pipeline.
This fight started with First Nations in Canada where the tar sands are extracted, and spread to farmers, ranchers and tribal nations along the pipeline route. Since then people from all walks of life have joined hands against Keystone, and the 830,000 barrels per day of destructive tar sands oil it would have carried through the country to be burned.
Together, we have shown what it takes to win: a determined, principled, unrelenting grassroots movement that takes to the streets whenever necessary, and isn't afraid to put our bodies on the line.
Politicians in Washington DC didn’t make this happen. Our movement did. We want to thank everyone who has been a part of this campaign -- from calling Congress to getting arrested on the White House fence.
You can join us in appreciating everyone who made this day possible by co-signing our thank you card to the movement -- we’ll deliver personalized versions of the card with your messages to everyone who has led or attended an action against Keystone XL since 2011. Click here to sign the thank you card to the #NoKXL Movement.
Powered by our organizing, the tide is turning against the fossil fuel industry -- every major new project they propose is being met by organized opposition on the ground, and politicians are lining up to stand behind our movement and say that we must keep the vast majority of fossil fuels underground.
Resistance is growing because the fossil fuel industry is more reckless than ever: from Texas where the Southern leg of Keystone XL pumps toxic tar sands, to Alberta where Big Oil foolishly plans to expand its mines, to California where they want to frack during a historic drought, to the enormous coal pits of Appalachia and Australia.
We have more tools than ever to work with. A strong fossil fuel resistance is already taking shape across the globe. Since we began fighting Keystone XL, the movement for divestment from fossil fuels has grown into a global powerhouse able to move tens of billions of dollars and undercut the social license of the fossil fuel industry. Fracking bans have stopped drilling in towns, counties and now whole states across the country. Communities are seizing their energy futures by demanding 100% renewable power in record numbers.
And when world leaders meet in Paris later this year, they’ll do so knowing what our movement can do, and what climate action really looks like: keeping fossil fuels in the ground.
Today we can approach all of our work with new eyes. We know that we can fight, and we can win.
This isn't just a victory for the climate movement -- it's a victory for everyone who believes in the power of organized people, from the streets of Missouri, to the border crossings of Arizona, to the hills of South Dakota and Nebraska.
Together, we're on the path to real, substantive change.
With joy, and immense gratitude,
The 350.org Keystone XL pipeline fighting team:
Bill, Cam, Clayton, David, Deirdre, Duncan, Jamie, Jason, Joshua, Linda, Matt, May, Phil, Rae and Sara
350.org is building a global climate movement. Become a sustaining donor to keep this movement strong and growing.
President Obama, flanked by Secretary of State John Kerry
(right) and Vice President Joe Biden, announced the Keystone XL pipeline
decision Friday in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.
Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
The president said that "after extensive public outreach" and consultations, the State Department determined that the proposal "would not serve the national interests of the United States." He added, "I agree with that decision."
YouTube
After the formal rejection was announced, TransCanada issued a statement saying it's reviewing the U.S. administration's reasons for denying the permit, and that it might reapply.
We've updated this post with today's news.
Saying he's "disappointed" with the U.S. decision, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau adds, "The Canada-U.S. relationship is much bigger than any one project, and I look forward to a fresh start with President Obama to strengthen our remarkable ties in a spirit of friendship and cooperation."
Trudeau, who won his leadership post last month, added that his government "will work hand-in-hand with provinces, territories and like-minded countries to combat climate change, adapt to its impacts and create the clean jobs of tomorrow."
Proposed And Existing TransCanada Pipelines
In rejecting the proposal, Obama said the Keystone debate has played an "overinflated role in our political discourse" — something for which he blamed both parties.
The president also disagreed with what he described as critics' claims that the completed pipeline would be "the express lane to climate disaster."
Discounting Keystone supporters' claims that the pipeline would boost the U.S. economy, Obama later added, "Shipping dirtier crude oil into our country would not increase America's energy security."
Obama also said that American industries have moved quickly to adopt renewable energy.
"Today, the United States of America is leading on climate change," he said, citing gains in efficiency and environmental protections.
"Ultimately, if we're going to prevent large parts of this Earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitable in our lifetimes, we're going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground rather than burn them and release more dangerous pollution into the sky," Obama said.
TransCanada says that despite the permit rejection, the company is reviewing its options — including the possibility that it will file a new application for a cross-border pipeline.
"TransCanada and its shippers remain absolutely committed to building this important energy infrastructure project," said Russ Girling, the company's president and CEO.
Reacting to the news, Natural Resources Defense Council President Rhea Suh called Obama's rejection of the permit "a courageous leap forward in the climate fight."
She added that the pipeline extension "would have locked in, for a generation or more, massive development of among the dirtiest fuels on the planet — posing a serious threat to our air, land, water and climate."
Bill McKibben, co-founder of the group 350.org, said the move gives Obama "new stature as an environmental leader, and it eloquently confirms the five years and millions of hours of work that people of every kind put into this fight."
McKibben added: "We're still awfully sad about Keystone south and are well aware that the next president could undo all this, but this is a day of celebration."
Speaking out against the decision, American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard said, "It's ironic that the administration would strike a deal to allow Iranian crude onto the global market while refusing to give our closest ally, Canada, access to U.S. refineries."
Calling the permit denial "politics at its worst," Gerard added, "the White House has placed political calculations above sound science. Seven years of review have determined the project is safe and environmentally sound, yet the administration has turned its back on Canada with this decision, and on U.S. energy security as well."
The official rejection, which had been rumored for days, comes after TransCanada on Tuesday asked the State Department to suspend its review of its permit application, citing ongoing debate over its route in Nebraska. Plans for the pipeline had called for it to stretch from Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico. Hundreds of miles of the projected route have already been completed.
As NPR's Jeff Brady reported this week, the Keystone project became a target for activists and others who want new energy policies to focus on renewable energy instead of fossil fuels.
Jeff added, "A big reason environmentalists don't like the Keystone XL is because of the oil it would transport. Much of it would come from Alberta's oil sands, which have to be mined. Then the gunky mixture has to be processed before it's usable. That emits more pollution than traditional methods of oil production."
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