Dear Tenney,
According to any accurate evaluation of Keystone XL, the tar-sands pipeline would be a climate disaster. But President Obama is set to hinge his decision on an environmental impact assessment conducted by an oil-industry firm that has a vested interest in approving the pipeline.
Please take a few seconds to join us in speaking out. Our goal is to reach 30,000 signatures before we, along with our partners at SumOfUs.org and Friends of the Earth, deliver this petition to the State Department in person.
Thanks again,
Brad and the rest of the Forecast the Facts team
P.S. You can read more about the campaign by reading the below email.
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Dear Tenney,
President Obama said he'd put the brakes on the Keystone XL if it's shown to "significantly exacerbate the climate problem."
“Great!” you say, “climate scientists agree that the pipeline will cause a significant impact on climate, so this is an open-and-shut case.” Except it’s not. That’s because the official study that the President will use to assess the environmental impact of KXL is being written by a firm with deep ties to the owners of Keystone XL, TransCanada, and other Big Oil Companies. Worse yet, the firm ERM is lying about its dirty ties to the State Department to secure the contract to conduct the study.
But word is leaking out about this massive conflict of interest, and the State Department has launched an investigation into ERM’s lies.
ERM has heavy ties to TransCanada, the owner of Keystone XL. Even more shocking, as a dues-paying member of the American Petroleum Institute – the lobbyist for Big Oil – it has a clear vested interest in the pipeline’s approval. Of course, ERM knew that if it told the truth about its ties to oil companies, it never would have gotten the contract.
ERM has a history endorsing projects with shoddy records. The worse example of it greenlighting disastrous projects is the controversial 1,300 mile-long Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) Pipeline that runs through the Caspian Sea. ERM assessed the pipeline as environmentally and socio-economically sound – yet, spills and explosions have occurred on a regular basis. Do we want the same type of spills to occur along the route of the Keystone XL because ERM okayed it?
A new environmental impact assessment of the Keystone XL is necessary anyway because the State Department admitted that it doesn’t even know the exact route of the pipeline. As such, the true environmental impacts of the pipeline on the water and land along the Keystone XL proposed route are not accounted for in ERM’s fraudulent assessment. Not only would a new assessment by a firm without influence from Big Oil reveal the dangers to our climate, it would also document TransCanada's notorious and lengthy record of oil spills and the impact those spills had on the land and water.
You could help prevent the next Exxon Mayflower spill. Let's call on the State Department to fire ERM and conduct a real assessment of the impacts of the Keystone XL.
Our friends at the corporate accountability organization SumOfUs.org have launched the campaign to get the State Department to enforce ethical practices. Now is a great opportunity to push this campaign to the next level.
Factually yours,
Brad, Emily, and the rest of the Forecast the Facts team
MORE INFORMATION:
‘State Department’ Keystone XL Report Actually Written By TransCanada Contractor, Grist, 6 March 2013
http://act.forecastthefacts.
‘State Department’ Keystone XL Report Actually Written By TransCanada Contractor, Grist, 6 March 2013
http://act.forecastthefacts.
Conflict of interest: State Department contractor on Keystone XL study lied about ties to TransCanada & oil industry, Friends of the Earth, 10 July 2013
http://act.forecastthefacts.
http://act.forecastthefacts.
State Department Admits It Doesn't Know Keystone XL's Exact Route, DeSmogBlog, 8 July 2013
http://act.forecastthefacts.
http://act.forecastthefacts.
State Department's Keystone XL Contractor ERM Green-Lighted BP's Explosive Caspian Pipeline That Failed To Live Up to Jobs Hype, DeSmogBlog, 26 March 2013
http://act.forecastthefacts.
http://act.forecastthefacts.
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