24 hours to stop Keystone XL in the Senate

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The Senate could vote as early as tomorrow on a plan to greenlight construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline...

UPDATE 2/14: WASHINGTON, DC -- Over the last 24-hours, environmental and progressive groups flooded the Senate with more than 800,000 messages opposing the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The surge in online activism came as Senate Republicans tried to saddle the transportation bill with an amendment that would reverse President Obama’s decision to block the controversial project. - Over 800,000 Americans Tell the Senate: Stop Keystone XL | 350.org

Despite President Obama's rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline a few weeks ago, Republicans in Congress are once again engaging in hostage-taking. Senator John Hoeven (R-ND) is trying to attach a measure to the transportation bill that would force approval of Keystone XL.

Tragically, some moderate Democrats appear to be playing along - so this bill could have enough votes to pass.

No evaluation process. No National Interest Determination. No new route identified through Nebraska.

To demonstrate a massive, urgent, grassroots backlash, our friends at 350.org have organized a 24-hour petition drive to the Senate. Nearly three dozen groups are emailing their members right now, and 350's Bill McKibben will announce the effort tonight on the Colbert Report.

Help us get 500,000 signatures in 24 hours against Keystone XL.

Republicans and some Democrats in Congress are so owned by Big Oil, that they are willing to bypass the pipeline review process designed to protect Americans from its very real danger.

Our grassroots pressure forced President Obama to reject the pipeline when Republicans tried to force a decision in 60 days. He said it wasn't enough time for the thorough evaluation process we need.

Republicans are claiming that incomplete process was enough. But just last week the State Department Inspector General released a report finding a lack of technical and scientific expertise at the State Department to evaluate the impacts of the pipeline.1 So clearly, this pipeline hasn't been adequately evaluated.

We need to show the Senate the huge opposition to Keystone XL. Please sign the petition.

Our Congress should be in the business of acting in America's interest. Instead, their business appears to be Big Oil's business.

Please help make a big statement today to remind our Senators who they really work for, and show huge opposition to this ill-conceived, disastrous pipeline. And please share it widely so we make as large an impact as possible over the next 24 hours, and Bill McKibben has a large number of signatures to announce tonight on the Colbert Report.

1. "Investigation reveals flaws in State Department's Keystone XL review process, raises fresh concerns," Friends of the Earth, February, 9 2012 (see below)

Sign the petition

We've reached 12% of our goal of 500,000 signers! (64,774)

The petition reads:
Senators: Don't go around President Obama and the evaluation process needed to protect Americans. Block any efforts to revive the dangerous Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

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24 hours to stop Keystone XL in the Senate

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Investigation reveals flaws in State Department’s Keystone XL review process, raises fresh concerns

Posted Feb. 9, 2012

Department’s Office of Inspector General recommends reforms after finding procedural lapses and previously undisclosed financial relationship between TransCanada and Cardno Entrix, as well as insufficient scientific expertise within department

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Multiple flaws in the State Department’s review of the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline were revealed today in a report released by the department’s Office of Inspector General.

The report raised fresh concerns about the process by which the department produced a widely criticized environmental impact statement for the pipeline — a statement that independent experts said dramatically downplayed the harm the pipeline was likely to cause. The pipeline is now in limbo given that President Obama rejected it on January 18.

“The report reveals that the department failed to follow even its own flawed procedures. It also contains the striking revelation that the contractor Cardno Entrix, which the department entrusted to manage much of the environmental review process, had a previously undisclosed financial relationship with pipeline firm TransCanada,” said Damon Moglen, climate and energy director at Friends of the Earth. “It’s no wonder that the result was a deeply flawed environmental review, and that the department ended up understating the significant risks posed by pipelines that carry dirty and corrosive tar sands oil. The evidence contained in this report must disqualify the State Department’s Keystone XL environmental impact statement from being used in any shape or form when future proposed pipelines are reviewed.”

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