Tell President Obama: Reject the Keystone XL Pipeline

Now that President Obama has been re-elected, he's got a choice to make.

But, in the wake of the devastation caused by climate-change-fueled Superstorm Sandy, it shouldn't be much of a choice at all.

He must reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

President Obama will likely decide early next year. As he looks to his priorities in his second term, and to the legacy of his presidency, we need to send an immediate, unambiguous message right now.

Tell President Obama: Reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

President Obama did his best to remain silent on climate change throughout the campaign - and instead extolled the virtues of expanded drilling, expanded fracking, mythical pollution-free coal, and his administration's approval of the southern portion of Keystone XL.

But Sandy forced his hand, and even the president had to acknowledge in his acceptance speech our desire to live in an America that "isn't threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet."

That should be grounds for immediately rejecting Keystone XL, but at a White House press conference Wednesday, President Obama showed that he was still vulnerable to the misleading economy vs. environment arguments put forward by polluters, saying that climate policies should take a back seat to "jobs and growth."¹ This is a false choice, ignoring the realities of an economy that favors dirty fossil fuels at Americans' expense -- monumental costs that includes sickness from pollution and damage from climate-change fueled disasters like Sandy.

The choice is now with President Obama. He can approve a pipeline that will "XL" climate change and extreme weather like Sandy by doubling production of the dirtiest and most destructive oil on earth - or he can reject that pipeline, and actually commit America to sources of energy that do not worsen our already too-volatile climate.

It simply is not possible to have it both ways. Tell President Obama: Reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

On November 18, thousands of people will be gathering at the White House to deliver this message to President Obama² and let him know that the movement that delayed Keystone XL last year is still here; that we still hold him to the promises he made in 2008; that tackling climate change must be a top priority of his administration.

As Superstorm Sandy - along with the recent record droughts, wildfires, storms and floods - have made all too clear, our action against climate change must be rapid and ambitious.

What it can not include, is a pipeline that will help unleash the more than 240 gigatons of carbon stored in the carbon bomb of the tar sands, when most scientists agree we can release no more than 565 more gigatons if we are to maintain a livable planet.³

Failing to fight climate change by approving the Keystone XL pipeline is not just an irresponsible act. Enriching a foreign oil company, when doing so will do clear damage to the residents of our nation, is a clear failure of leadership.

It is time for President Obama to draw a line in the tar sands, and reject the Keystone XL pipeline.

1."Obama: 'I won't go' for climate action that hurts jobs, growth," NBC News, November 14th, 2012
2. "November 18th: A Call to Action," 350.org
3. "Global Warming's Terrifying New Math," Rolling Stone, July 19, 2012

Source: http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/kxl_test/

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