| Tell Rep. Markey: Sign the letter urging President Obama to reject Keystone XL | ||||
| The petition to Rep. Markey reads: The Keystone XL pipeline is not in our national interest. Please co-sign Rep. Grijalva's letter urging President Obama to reject Keystone XL.
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Republicans in the House are gearing up for yet another symbolic vote to force approval of Keystone XL. Of course, Keystone XL is President Obama’s decision – not the climate deniers who make up a majority of our Congress – but we know that he is sensitive to pressure from Congress as he considers his decision. Now we have an important opportunity to build pressure on the President from those in Congress who actually accept science. Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva has just written a great letter asking President Obama to reject Keystone XL. (Full text below.) The more representatives we can get to add their names before it gets sent to the President, the more pressure the president will feel. Tell your member of Congress, Rep. Markey, to co-sign the Grijalva letter urging President Obama to reject Keystone XL. Click here to automatically sign the petition. President Obama recognizes that a majority in Congress deny the science of climate change. His Organizing for Action has made calling out climate denial a major focus of its messaging. But calling out climate denial is not enough – President Obama needs to show that he is committed to action. The first, easiest thing he can do is reject Keystone XL. The President’s efforts to call out members of congress for ignoring scientists will be meaningless if his own administration does the very same thing -- deny the scientists who are unequivocally clear on the need to keep carbon in the ground – when it comes to his decision on the Keystone XL pipeline. If enough Representatives sign Rep. Grijalva’s letter, it could make a big impression on the president. But for that to happen, Rep. Markey needs to hear from you. Click here to automatically sign the petition: http://act.credoaction.com/go/546?t=4&akid=7939.4923402.rDsc85 Thanks for fighting Keystone XL. Elijah Zarlin, Campaign Manager CREDO Action from Working Assets
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Dear President Obama, We stand with millions of Americans concerned about the strength of our economy, gas prices, and the safety of our water supply in urging you to reject the Keystone XL pipeline. When you strip away the rhetoric, the facts are clear: Keystone XL will export Canadian oil through our country – not to our country. As an export pipeline, Keystone XL does not reduce our dependence on foreign oil. It does not protect American families from increasing gas prices or price spikes on the global market. The history of tar sands pipelines is full of failed promises, difficult cleanups and environmental damage. Tar sands crude is both more toxic and more difficult to clean up than conventional oil. A 2010 spill involving tar sands crude on the Kalamazoo River has still not been remedied. The climate impacts are perhaps even greater than the immediate damage to water sources, and will be felt by every American for decades to come. The State Department’s conclusion that we might as well approve Keystone XL because the tar sands will inevitably be burned is not only untrue, it is a stunning breach of our national security. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is hardly alone in the military community in declaring that climate change “has a dramatic impact on national security.” Keystone XL will increase global demand for tar sands, which produce far more climate-heating emissions than conventional oil. There is a better way forward, and we call on you to continue leading the way. The only way to reduce high gas prices is to use less fuel. We applaud your administration’s historic efforts to increase vehicle fuel efficiency, your investments in sustainable technologies, and your inspiring call in the State of the Union Address to fund research to move our vehicles away from oil altogether. Rejecting Keystone XL should be another part of your positive environmental legacy. Efforts already under way are saving Americans money at the pump and creating new engineering and manufacturing jobs. Approving Keystone would put many of these advances in jeopardy. It would mean a return to the dirty economy of the past rather than a step toward the clean economy of the future. The costs of approving Keystone XL far outweigh any benefits. The American people are depending on your leadership. This dirty pipeline is not in our national interest, and we urge you to reject it. Sincerely, Raúl M. Grijalva Member of Congress | ||||
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Showing posts with label XL Pipeline. Show all posts
Showing posts with label XL Pipeline. Show all posts
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Sign the letter urging President Obama to reject Keystone XL
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Breaking: Two Silicon Valley leaders quit FWD.us over support for Keystone XL
| The petition to FWD.us co-founders reads: "Repudiate FWD.us propaganda supporting Keystone XL and drilling in the Arctic Refuge by resigning from the organization immediately."
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This is a direct result of a campaign by CREDO and our allies to stop Zuckerberg's group from praising conservative politicians for backing the Keystone XL pipeline and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in a dangerously misguided attempt to win support for immigration reform. It's time for other tech industry luminaries to make it clear where they stand. In addition to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, eBay’s John Donahoe, Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer and Kleiner Perkins’ John Doerr are co-founders of the group. Tell FWD.us co-founders: Repudiate FWD.us propaganda supporting Keystone XL and drilling in the Arctic Refuge by resigning from the organization. Click here to sign. Elon Musk, the founder of electric carmaker Tesla, explained his departure saying “I agreed to support Fwd.us because there is a genuine need to reform immigration. However, this should not be done at the expense of other important causes."2 The other Silicon Valley star that joined Musk in protesting the group's attack on key environmental priorities was David Sacks, the founder of Yammer. These technology leaders can't have it both ways. They can't be for clean energy and action on climate change and fund conservative propaganda that promotes the Keystone XL pipeline and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Silicon Valley stars like LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, eBay’s John Donahoe, Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer, Kleiner Perkins’ John Doerr and even Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg are sensitive to public backlash from the people who power their social networks or use their products or services. If enough of us push back and keep this issue in the public eye, they will be under immense pressure, not just from us but from their staff and shareholders, to stop supporting FWD.us. Tell Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, eBay’s John Donahoe, Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer and Kleiner Perkins’ John Doerr: Follow Elon Musk's example and resign from FWD.us. Click here to sign. The campaign against FWD.us, which includes efforts not just by CREDO but also our allies at Progressives United, 350.org, Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters and other groups, has been covered extensively in the technology and political press with stories in the Washington Post, New York Times, San Jose Mercury News, Huffington Post and dozens of other outlets. Elon Musk's high profile departure from the group gives us new momentum to escalate our campaign and send a message to Silicon Valley political donors that if they throw Keystone XL under the bus, that we will hold them accountable. Please sign our petition and then share it with friends and family. We will deliver these signatures directly to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, eBay’s John Donahoe, Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer and Kleiner Perkins’ John Doerr. These tech leaders are not used to hearing directly from the public and in such large numbers. Your signature can make a real difference in this campaign. Tell FWD.us co-founders: Repudiate FWD.us propaganda supporting Keystone XL and drilling in the Arctic Refuge by resigning from the organization. Click here to sign. Thank you for joining CREDO in holding these Silicon Valley leaders accountable. Becky Bond, Political Director CREDO Action from Working Assets
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1. Mark Zuckerberg's Group Loses High-Profile Backers Elon Musk, David Sacks, Huffington Post, 5/10/2013
2. Elon Musk and David Sacks Depart Fwd.us, Mark Zuckerberg’s Political Action Group, All things D, 5/10/2013 | ||||
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Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Pledge to resist Keystone XL:There environmental record in Canada is like the BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Disaster !
This is not the usual CREDO email. With the release last Friday of the State Department's favorable environmental
assessment of the Keystone XL pipeline, we thought long and hard about the right way to respond; to get President Obama's
attention, and to convince him to change course and reject this catastrophic project. Search for "XL Pipeline Canada oil disaster" on YouTube and you will see what they have done to Canada !
Here's what we think is necessary to meet the moment: a pledge to resist Keystone XL and commit civil disobedience if necessary.
It's a big ask. We hope you will read below and carefully consider what we are asking. We hope you will join us in signing
the pledge to resist, and most of all we hope President Obama will reject Keystone XL, so that it will not be necessary to
fulfill our pledge at all.
Thanks for your great passion and commitment in the face of this important fight. It is what has gotten us this far, and
it is our greatest source of hope that we can win.
— Michael Kieschnick, Becky Bond, and the CREDO team
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Dear William,
Last Friday was one of those days that remind us of just how steep a hill to climb this fight against climate change is.
Even with a president who recently professed a lofty goal of getting all
cars off of oil, even with one of our stronger climate-hawk
senators as the new secretary of state, the State Department still
released a joke of an environmental assessment of the
Keystone XL pipeline, taking us one big step closer to approval of this
project that should be a no-brainer of a rejection.1
Obliviously ignoring the consensus among oil executives, bankers, and environmentalists, who all agree that Keystone XL is
central to speeding the extraction of tar sands,2 the State Department found the project is "unlikely to have
a significant impact" on tar sands development. This is coward's logic.
This assessment was a vehicle for the White House to test the waters and see if the public will stand by, and buy this false
and cynical argument that the tar sands will just get burned anyway. That while NASA's chief climate scientist's assertion
that Keystone XL will spell 'game over' for the climate may be true,3 it is essentially irrelevant. That we should
let the bankers and the oil companies profit while the planet inevitably burns.
Well, we won't. And so, last Friday reminded us of something else, too: those two weeks in August of 2011, when the peaceful
and dignified arrest of 1,253 people over two weeks at President Obama's front door effectively stopped what was considered
a virtually guaranteed presidential approval of Keystone XL.
There is still time to convince President Obama to change his mind and reject Keystone XL. But with the president ignoring
every possible sign Mother Nature can send, it is once again incumbent upon us to send a message he can't ignore.
That's why CREDO is joining with Bold Nebraska, The Other 98%, Hip Hop Caucus, Rainforest Action Network, 350, and Oil Change
International to launch the Keystone XL Pledge of Resistance.
It is time for us to pledge to resist. That is, we are asking you to commit — should it be necessary to stop Keystone
XL — to engage in serious, dignified, peaceful civil disobedience that could get you arrested.
If tens of thousands of people stand up as President Obama mulls his
final decision, and commit to participate in civil disobedience
if necessary, we can convince the White House that it will be
politically unfeasible to go forward. That is, our goal is
not to get arrested. Our goal is to stop the Keystone XL pipeline — by
showing enough opposition to Keystone XL that
President Obama will reject it. But if he shows clear signs he that he
is preparing to approve it, we will be ready.
It goes without saying, this isn't a usual ask. It is not for everyone.
So we want you to carefully consider if this is something
you can commit to be a part of.
Here's exactly what we have in mind: With the release of Friday's Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, we will
have 45 days to submit formal comments. And comment we will. We will petition, rally, make phone calls, and comment through
official channels. But that may not be enough.
The moment of truth will come later, at some point likely in the summer, with the release of the Draft National Interest
Determination. If the Obama administration issues a draft finding that Keystone XL is in our national interest, that will
trigger action on our pledge to resist.
So we are asking you to pledge, if necessary after the release of the Draft National Interest Determination, to join with
others in your community and risk arrest in acts of dignified, peaceful civil disobedience all over the country.
Most events will be outside of Washington D.C., because this decision
will affect all of us where we live. So we want to
see the beautiful sight of actions across the nation — including a wide
variety of symbolic targets like State Department
offices, TransCanada corporate lobbies, Obama Organizing for Action
meetings, banks that are financing tar sands oil development,
areas ravaged by Superstorm Sandy, and along the pipeline route. Some
brave souls have started this work already. We need
to support their efforts and make them much, much bigger.
You can pledge to participate or you can pledge to help organize an action in your community. We'll need tons of volunteers.
And soon, we'll announce organizer trainings so local leaders and activists who want to can get the tools they need to organize
an action near them.
You shouldn't make this pledge lightly. We certainly don't ask lightly. We ask in the belief that there are tens of thousands
of people out there who feel as strongly about this as we do, who believe that these circumstances call for extraordinary
action, and want to be part of that action in their community. And we ask with the faith that those who commit to participate
and organize actions will participate only in the most dignified manner. After all, we are the conservatives, standing up
for a safe and secure future for our families. It is those we protest, those who profit from radically altering the chemical
composition of our atmosphere — and the prospects for survival of humanity — who are the radicals.
But what is more frightening than asking you to join us in committing to acts of civil disobedience across the nation, is
the prospect of coming up short in the fight against Keystone XL.
Our time is short to convince President Obama to change his mind. We do not know how many people's pledges, and how many
pledged actions, it will take to convince President Obama to resist the big money, dirty energy, inside-the-beltway pressure
and take a stand to protect our nation from the greatest threat of all.
We hope you can join us. If you are so moved, make the pledge. And share this pledge with friends and family so that those
who are ready and willing to be arrested can be counted in the pledge to resist. We'll send you more information soon.
Becky Bond, Michael Kieschnick & Elijah Zarlin, CREDO Action
Jane Kleeb, Bold Nebraska John Sellers, The Other 98% Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., Hip Hop Caucus Amanda Starbuck, Rainforest Action Network May Boeve & Bill McKibben, 350.org Steve Kretzmann, Oil Change International
1. "Keystone XL pipeline would have little impact
on climate change, State Department analysis says" Washington Post, 03/01/13
2. "Keystone XL: In their own words" 350.org 3. "Game over for the climate," James Hansen, the New York Times, 5/9/12
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