Sierra Club President To Obama; Keystone Choice Will Have "Very Big Impact" On Activists, Campaigns

[hatrack]

The Sierra Club’s top official fired a political shot across the bow at the White House Friday, warning it will be hard to motivate activists on President Obama’s behalf next year unless he rejects the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.

“We don’t think that we will be able to effectively mobilize our members until the president keeps his promise to fight climate change effectively and stand up to big polluters and to protect public health,” Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune told reporters on a conference call.

EDIT

The Sierra Club is active in both presidential and congressional races. The group has not made a formal presidential endorsement yet, although it’s highly, highly unlikely to back one of Obama’s GOP rivals. But the disappointment that would stem from a decision to approve Keystone could affect how the Sierra Club spends its field campaign and ad resources between the White House and congressional races it’s involved in.

Asked about how a decision to approve the pipeline would affect the group’s allocation of resources, Brune replied: “It will have a very big impact.” The State Department, which is heading the Obama administration’s review of the pipeline, plans to make a decision by the end of the year, although a news report this week said that timeline could slip somewhat.

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/190455-sierra-club-to-obama-help-us-help-you

[Autumn]

1. Good to see a line in the sand on this.

K/R

[tblue]

2. My first letters to our POTUS

were begging him not to do X because it would dampen the enthusiasm of volunteers he's gonna need in '12. But every time, I mean EVERY TIME, he did X anyway. Eventually I stopped writing because it made no difference. I wasn't asking for a pony. I was asking for respect for the people who got him where he was.

[DirkGently]

3. The problem w/unlimited corporate campaign funding. No one else matters. In theory.

[Doctor_J]

4. To which the president replied,

"So you're going to vote for Bachmann?"

The choices next year are grim. Let's see if the president for once responds favorably to a liberal group