Hillary Clinton Tweet on September 22, 2015
September 22, 2015 - WASHINGTON— Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton today said she opposes the Keystone XL pipeline.
“We’re happy to see Hillary Clinton join Americans around the country in standing against Keystone XL,” said Bill Snape, senior counsel with the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s gratifying that she recognizes how disastrous Keystone XL would be for the climate, wildlife, waterways and people along the route. We hope this is the next step toward an energy plan that halts fracking, keeps fossil fuels in the ground on our public lands and transitions us to a cleaner, safer, more livable planet.”
Earlier this year the Environmental Protection Agency said that the development of tar sands oil that would be carried by Keystone XL “represents a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions” with the potential to release up to 1.37 billion additional tons of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere over 50 years. The EPA said it would be the pollution equivalent of adding 5.7 million passenger vehicles or 7.8 coal-fired power plants.
Over the past four years, scientists, environmentalists, tribes, farmers, celebrities and businesspeople joined forces to fight the pipeline, with more than 2 million comments submitted to the U.S. State Department, tens of thousands participating in rallies against Keystone in all 50 states, and thousands of citizens arrested in peaceful civil disobedience.
The Center and other conservation groups in April 2014 sent a letter to Clinton urging her to speak out against the Keystone pipeline.
“Every voice that’s raised against Keystone XL is another raised against the fossil fuel industry that’s pushing our climate to the brink,” Snape said.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 900,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
Source: Center for Biological Diversity
