Environmental Groups Release Statements About Pending Environmental Review of Keystone XL

RAN, CREDO and the Other 98% issue statements on pending release of final review for Keystone XL pipeline

Contact: Blair FitzGibbon, 202-503-6141

In anticipation of the release of the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) on Keystone XL, environmental groups CREDO, Rainforest Action Network and the Other 98% released the following statements:

“This is and always has been the president’s decision,” said Elijah Zarlin, a former Senior National Email writer on the 2008 Obama campaign who now leads CREDO’s campaign to stop the Keystone XL pipeline. “The oil industry is so desperate to hide the clearly available facts that Keystone XL fails the president’s climate test that it is working overtime to corrupt the State Department’s EIS process at every turn. But the State Department only gets to make a recommendation — it’s up to the president to decide whether or not the Keystone XL pipeline is in our national interest, and we are optimistic he will side with protecting the American people over caving to the oil industry.”

“It’s no secret that the process surrounding the review for the Keystone XL pipeline has been riddled with oil industry influence, ” said Amanda Starbuck, Program Director at Rainforest Action Network. “No amount of industry spin can hide the devastating impacts the pipeline would have on communities along its route and on our rapidly changing climate.”

“Why in the world does Big Oil seem to know the findings of the State Departments report before Congress and the American people do? Because this process has been corrupted by the money and power of Big Oil since the beginning,” said John Sellers, co-founder of the Other 98%. “If the president is serious about stabilizing our climate then he must break with Big Oil and say no to the Keystone XL pipeline.”

About the Pledge of Resistance:

More than 76,000 people have signed a Pledge of Resistance to risk arrest in peaceful, dignified civil disobedience if President Obama’s administration issues a draft National Interest Determination recommending approval of the pipeline. The Pledge of Resistance is being organized by CREDO, Rainforest Action Network and the Other 98%. Read the pledge here: http://nokxl.org/wp-content/kxl_pledge.html

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