Keystone XL Pipeline Project - Just Say No, Secretary Clinton!

Dear Secretary Clinton,

As a concerned citizen of the United States and a global citizen, I am writing to offer my comments on the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) that was released on August 26, 2011. As I understand the present situation, the Department of State must carry out an evaluation of the application for a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline project. This evaluation of the application extends beyond environmental impact, taking into account economic, energy security, foreign policy, and other relevant issues.

After reviewing the FEIS, I am convinced that to permit this project would be to encourage and provide a powerful incentive to the old fossil fuel energy economy. Meanwhile, we the people are making investments, both public and private, in the new green energy economy based on renewable energy and energy efficiency. Granting approval of this application would work at cross purposes to the stated goals of the Obama Administration.

As President Obama said, "The nation that leads the world in 21st century clean energy will be the nation that leads in the 21st century global economy. America can and must be that nation."

To permit the Keystone XL Pipeline project would be a major retrenchment in America’s world leadership toward a clean energy future.

The threats to our national interest that climate change poses are great. The coastal cities of the US will face rising sea levels. Our farmlands will face increasing disruption of normal seasonal rainfall, increasing temperatures and more violent weather events that could lower crop yields and threaten our food security. Southwestern states, including New Mexico, face drought, forest fires and water shortages as the annual snow pack shrinks and summer storms fail to arrive.

Meanwhile, the costs of maintaining the old fossil fuel energy economy are increasing at an elevated rate. The specific costs of the Keystone XL project include environmental destruction of fragile lands with unique ecosystems to produce this most dirty and destructive form of oil. The pipeline would provide strong incentives for Canadian Big Oil companies to expand their destruction to increase production. Extraction and refining of this tar sands oil results in more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil. In addition the increased production of tar sand oil will require the cutting down of some 740,000 acres of boreal forest, a natural carbon reservoir. As global citizens, we cannot just ignore this destruction because it occurs in Canada, not the USA.

Furthermore, the disturbance of fragile lands with unique ecosystems along the 1700 mile path of the pipeline during construction as well as the necessity to cross rivers and other recharge areas of the great Ogallala aquifer in the nation’s heartland will create disruption that will be slow to heal. When the dirty oil with its volatile diluents begins to flow, there is the ever present risk of spills and releases, as stated by the EPA in the letter to the State Department of June 6, 2011. These oil spills will cause additional environmental destruction and the risk of aquifer contamination. In my estimation, the environmental risks are just not worth the benefits!

Investment of $7 billion in the old fossil fuel energy economy could be invested in new green energy. This would be much more effective in creating the future we seek, create green jobs when we need them most. A visit to the Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy website demonstrates all of the investments that we the people are making to create incentives for the green economy. Why would we the people permit a dirty and destructive oil pipeline project to be built and operated when we are making so much progress toward a clean energy future?

This morning, I read again the position papers on energy and environmental protection that set forth the promises of presidential candidate Barack Obama to us, the voters. In 2008 I made a decision to vote for the president and worked hard to encourage others to do the same. Now, I am asking President Obama to stick by his campaign promises. Permitting the Keystone XL Pipeline project to proceed will go against these promises and cause me to reconsider my support. Yes, this is that important to me!

Sincerely,

Susan Gorman