It's official! President Obama Rejects Keystone XL Pipeline Proposal

[RiverLover]

President Obama Rejects Keystone XL Pipeline Proposal
11/6/15

President Barack Obama announced Friday morning that he is rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline proposal.

The president, citing concerns about the impact on the environment and a political climate that overly-hyped the pipeline's benefit, said the effort "would not serve the interests of the United States."

"While our politics have been consumed with whether this pipeline would increase jobs and lower gas prices, we have increased jobs and lowered gas prices," Obama said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/obama-announce-rejection-keystone-xl-pipeline-proposal-n458651

[Scuba]

1. Meanwhile ...

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/03/20/3254081/pipelines-you-havent-heard-of/

But while critics and proponents of Keystone XL have sparred over the last few years, numerous pipelines — many of them slated to carry the same Canadian tar sands crude as Keystone — have been proposed, permitted, and even seen construction begin in the U.S. and Canada. Some rival Keystone XL in size and capacity; others, when linked up with existing and planned pipelines, would carry more oil than the 1,179-mile pipeline.

With the public eye turned on Keystone, some of these pipelines have faced little opposition. But it’s not just new pipelines that worry Carl Weimer, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust. Weimer said companies are beginning to revamp old pipelines by expanding their capacity or reversing their flow, changes that can be troubling if proper safety measures aren’t put in place.

[RiverLover]

2. That is bad, but at least they won't be going through an aquifer providing millions with water

What a TransCanada pipeline will do is put a major underground water supply at risk. Keystone XL would be built directly above the Ogallala Aquifer, located beneath most of Nebraska and extending to seven other states. The Ogallala is a shallow aquifer, meaning a pipeline spill could easily pollute this drinking water source for two million Americans.

The pipeline would cross thousands of acres of farmland in the Great Plains; a spill could make this land unusable for years. In 2013, an oil pipeline spilled 840,000 gallons of crude near Tioga, North Dakota, and crews are still working to clean it up. Keystone I, which runs from Canada through Illinois, had 14 reported leaks during its first year of operation.

http://www.foreffectivegov.org/blog/keystone-pipeline-foreign-profits-american-risk

[2naSalit]

3. Okay, a quick

exhale and back to work.

This is truly awesome but there's so much more to be done yesterday.

[RiverLover]

4. Ain't that the truth....but real quick, before we do, can we thank President Obama for this?

(And ignore the TPP, for a moment?)

Congratulations on helping achieve today’s incredible win for wildlife—from caribou in the northern forests all the way down to whooping cranes in the Gulf of Mexico.

Moments ago, President Obama took the final step to reject the permit for the dangerous Keystone XL pipeline.

President Obama said YES to wildlife and NO to tar sands. Please thank him.

Today, years of hard work paid off!!!

Over the past five years, tens of thousands of friends of wildlife like you have weighed in against this dangerous pipeline, submitting comments, calling your members of Congress, attending hearings, and contacting the President.

When the National Wildlife Federation Action Fund joined this fight more than five years ago, it was just a far distant hope that we’d ever be able to stop this dangerous project, backed by the world’s most profitable industry and the Canadian Government. Today, we’ve achieved an incredible victory—we’re protecting wildlife and their habitat from dirty tar sands by stopping Keystone XL!