Banks| Policies| Dodgy Deals| Campaigns
About us| Blog| Publications| Successes| Contact us| Donate
About BankTrack
Visit us
Organisation
Our team
Our board
Guiding principles
Team up with us
Join our Active Allies list
Our annual reports
Funding and finances
History
BankTrack in the media
Our privacy policy
Donate
2021-02-24 00:00:00
Protect the climate but finance Total?
2021-02-16 00:00:00
Oil and gas financiers are staring down the barrel at $1 trillion in losses: time to rein in support for new pipelines
2021-02-11 00:00:00
Beefing up risk: the exposure of JBS’ financiers to financial, regulatory and reputational risks
2021-01-25 00:00:00
Why should banks support EU mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence?
2020-09-24 12:53:20
Oscislowo open-pit coal mine cancelled
2020-09-08 13:07:41
Strengthened OECD guidance on responsible banking
2020-02-25 10:35:27
JPMorgan Chase Coal and Arctic Policy a step forward but fails to match its climate responsibility as the world’s #1 Fossil Bank
2020-02-18 17:27:23
Civil society groups welcome Royal Bank of Scotland preparing to exit fossil fuels
Connect
2021-03-24 00:00:00
Banking on Climate Chaos 2021
2021-03-22 00:00:00
BankTrack Annual Report 2020
2021-02-01 00:00:00
Banking on Thin Ice
2020-11-30 00:00:00
Soft Commitments, Hard Lessons: an analysis of the Soft Commodities Compact
2020-11-24 00:00:00
"Trust Us, We're Equator Banks": Part II
2020-11-18 00:00:00
Crude Risk: Risks to banks and investors from the East African Crude Oil Pipeline
See all publications
Browse
Home
Banks
Dodgy Deals
Map
Campaigns
About
About BankTrack
Donate
Contact BankTrack
Publications
Victories
Follow Us
News
BankTrack blog
Facebook page
Twitter channel
Home › News
President Obama rejects the Keystone XL pipeline
Start
Dodgy Deals

By: Friends of the Earth
2012-01-18
Washington, DC

Contact:

mchan@foe.org


Share this page:

Administration deals a blow to Big Oil and its cronies in Congress, takes a stand for Americans' health and livelihoods, and a safe climate

Today, the Obama administration rejected the permit for the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline sought by Canadian oil firm TransCanada, determining that the project was not in the national interest.

"President Obama has shown bold leadership in standing up to Big Oil and rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline," said Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth. "The climate movement took on Goliath and won, demonstrating its growing strength. Sustained grassroots pressure aimed at holding the president accountable to the public interest proved more powerful than all the lobbyists and campaign cash the oil industry could muster."

This iconic David versus Goliath victory was fueled by years of persistent grassroots campaigning to stop the project led by indigenous activists, environmentalists, farmers, ranchers and youth climate activists. Americans submitted more than 250,000 public comments against the proposal, several thousand more turned out in small-town Nebraska, in Texas and in Washington, D.C. to testify against the pipeline in public hearings -- and 1,253 people played a pivotal role in August by getting arrested during peaceful sit-ins on the president's doorstep.

Investigative efforts led by Friends of the Earth and allies exposed the State Department's review process as hopelessly corrupted by conflicts of interest and oil industry cronyism in advance of President Obama's call for a new review of the project in November.

"Today's announcement is a welcome example of President Obama following through on his promise that corporate polluter lobbyists will no longer set the agenda in Washington," said Pica. "The Keystone XL pipeline would have been dirty at both ends, dangerous in between, and certainly not in our national interest. Big Oil and its bought-and-paid-for confederates in Congress couldn't drown this dirty reality despite all of their threats and bullying."

"This defeat for Big Oil is a huge victory for the health and safety of Americans. It belongs to the indigenous communities who first sounded the alarm on the dangers of tar sands extraction, to the Nebraskan farmers and Texan ranchers who withstood TransCanada's bullying in the name of their land and livelihoods, to the activists from across the country who were arrested on the president's doorstep, and to all of us fighting for a safe climate and justice-fueled future," said Pica.

The Keystone XL pipeline would have pumped the world's dirtiest oil -- tar sands oil -- from Canada across America's heartland to Texas. The nation's top climate scientist, Dr. James Hansen, has said that fully exploiting the tar sands could destabilize the climate to the point of no return. Tar sands extraction is poisoning water downstream from the massive mining sites in Canada and tar sands refining would have increased air pollution that causes lung disease and other respiratory diseases in communities near refineries in Texas.

"Allowing expansion of the destructive tar sands oil industry is not and will never be in our nation's interest. We will remain vigilant to ensure that all of Big Oil's attempts to wring profits from the tar sands at the public's expense are defeated -- and that better, clean alternatives are deployed," said Pica.

For more information on the Keystone XL pipeline see: http://www.foe.org/projects/climate-and-energy/tar-sands/keystone-xl-pipeline

For more information on the Keystone XL influence scandal see: http://www.foe.org/news/blog/keystone-xl-pipeline-influence-scandal

Contact:

Nick Berning, 202-222-0748, nberning@foe.org

Kelly Trout, 202-222-0722, ktrout@foe.org

Related Dodgy Deals

Projects

There are no projects active for this item now.
on record

Canadian tar sands Canada

Oil and Gas Extraction
Browse
Home
Banks
Dodgy Deals
Map
Campaigns
About
About BankTrack
Donate
Contact BankTrack
Publications
Victories
Follow Us
News
BankTrack blog
Facebook page
Twitter channel
Vismarkt 15
6511 VJ Nijmegen
The Netherlands

Tel: +31 24 324 9220
Contact@banktrack.org
©2016 BankTrack                Webdesign by BankTrack and EASYmind
BankTrack is a registered charity in the Netherlands (ANBI) - RSIN 813874658
Find our privacy policy here

Stay up to date

Sign up now for all BankTrack's news


Make a comment

Your comment will be reviewed, before being posted