---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Duncan Meisel - 350.org <[email protected]> Date: Wed, Jul 31, 2013 at 5:35 PM Subject: President Obama is talking about rejecting Keystone XL To: Robert Naiman <[email protected]>
Friends, *In the past week, President Obama has delivered some straight talk on Keystone XL:* "I meant what I said; I'm going to evaluate this based on whether or not this is going to significantly contribute to carbon in our atmosphere." "That oil is going to be piped down to the Gulf to be sold on the world oil markets, so it does not bring down gas prices here in the United States." "Putting all your eggs in the basket of an oil pipeline that may only create about 50 permanent jobs ... isn’t a jobs plan." Wow. These comments are the result of years of relentless organizing by folks across the country (and the world) to put pressure on the President. More than 1400 people have been arrested, including some last week, and tens of thousands more have taken to the streets in protests against the pipeline. *In fact, since March, President Obama and his closest advisers have been met by #noKXL protests at 30 different events -- from Washington, DC to Warrensburg, Missouri to Cape Town, South Africa.* Each time the message is simple: keeping your promises on climate change means standing up to the tar sands and stopping Keystone XL. *To see updates from all the Rapid Response Team events, you can click here: organizing-for-our-future.tumblr.com<http://act.350.org/go/3530?t=1&akid=3409.572422.7_YWyA>-- these folks deserve thanks for bringing the message right to the President and his team.* ** And it looks like the message might be getting through. While he is still giving himself some wiggle room to approve the pipeline (and Big Oil continues to beat their chest and insist it *will* be approved), there is far, far less wiggle room now than there was even a week or two ago.* If he's at all honest about his climate test, there is no way he can approve the pipeline.* *Every independent analysis of the pipeline -- unlike the State Department's big oil-tainted assessment -- has reached the obvious conclusion that building an 830,000 barrel per day pipeline carrying the world's dirtiest oil will be bad for the climate.* Even if Canada said they wanted to clean up their mess, it wouldn't be enough: the government of Alberta enforces its environmental laws less than 1% of the time, meaning that the only climate-safe tar sands is the stuff that stays in the ground. When I first read President Obama's statements about Keystone in his climate address last month, I didn't know what to think. On the one hand, nothing changed: he gave himself room to OK the pipeline, and we need to keep pushing. But on the other, it's stunning progress. ** *President Obama is talking openly about rejecting Keystone XL. Two years ago, no one thought that could happen, and it only is because we pushed, and continue to push.* Next week Bill McKibben and the rest of the 350.org Keystone team will be in touch with ideas for the next leg of this fight -- but for now, I think it's worth just appreciating how far we've come. We've had plenty of setbacks -- such as the fast-tracking of the Southern segment of the pipeline -- but together we're showing how to fight, and maybe, possibly, against hope, win something big. Let's keep going, Duncan P.S. There will be a full report back from the Summer Heat wave of mass actions against fossil fuels coming next week after all the actions wrap up, but for now I'll let the pictures do the talking. All this happened last weekend in (from top left) Massachusetts, the Columbia River, Ohio, Utah and Washington DC: <http://act.350.org/go/3531?t=2&akid=3409.572422.7_YWyA> ------------------------------ 350.org is building a global movement to solve the climate crisis. Connect with us on Facebook <http://facebook.com/350.org> and Twitter<http://twitter.com/350>, and sign up for email alerts <http://350.org/signup?akid=3409.572422.7_YWyA>. You can help power our work by getting involved locally, sharing your story<http://local.350.org/stories/?akid=3409.572422.7_YWyA>, and donating here. <http://350.org/donate?akid=3409.572422.7_YWyA> * To stop receiving emails from 350.org, click here.<http://act.350.org/cms/unsubscribe/unsubscribe/?t=3&akid=3409.572422.7_YWyA> * -- Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected]
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