United Church of Christ - JPANet: Tell President Obama: "Reject the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline"

JPANet: Tell President Obama: "Reject the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline"

Last month 1,253 people were arrested in an act of civil disobedience in front of the White House- including UCC Massachusetts Conference Minister Jim Antal. They were protesting the construction of a pipeline carrying dirty sludge from Alberta, Canada to be refined on the Texas coast.

Why the uproar?

Rev. Mari Castellanos is arrested in front of the White House as part of a mass demonstration against the Keystone XL Pipeline.

The pipeline would cross six states, several major rivers, the Ogallala aquifer, and the nation’s breadbasket – all potential sites for major disasters like the BP Gulf oil spill. Mining the tar sands requires leveling the boreal forest in western Canada, trampling the homes of native populations, using enormous amounts of water for processing, and the use of natural gas to heat the tar sands just to get the crude to flow.

Opposition to the project has been widespread. Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman (R) and Nebraska Senator Mike Johanns (R) have both said they don’t want the pipeline crossing their state because of its danger to agriculture and the natural environment. NASA scientist James Hansen, who was also arrested as part of this protest effort, says that mining the tar sands will have such a negative impact on climate change that “it is essentially game over" for the environment.

In the end this oil will be put on the world market, not the US market, so it won't further our “energy independence.” So who wants this pipeline? The oil companies do, and we know their record for precautionary safety.

As people of faith, we are called to take care of Creation now and for the generations after us. TransCanada, the foreign oil company proposing this project, needs the approval of the State Department and the President to build the pipeline. Tell President Obama to to reject this dirty and destructive pipeline in favor of clean energy.

More info:

UCC Advocates have been participating in the Tar Sand Protest in DC. Read about Rev. Jim Antal's involvement and his arrest as part of a large protest.
Attend a public hearing to voice your protest. They begin the week of September 26 in Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, Montana, South Dakota, and Oklahoma. Get times and places of hearings.
Learn more about the hazards of tar sands oil.
Watch this You Tube video from a group of Obama supporters in Seattle, and then go organize a protest in your area.
If you want to do more, make a call! Check out this sample script and tips.
Get more info about the UCC's environmental justice work.

Take Action

Call or write President Obama today and tell him to say no to the Keystone XL Pipline. Use the letter below or call using this phone number: 202-456-1111.

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The BP Oil Spill disaster showed us that we can't trust an industry that only cares about profits, destroys a healthy environment, and devastates local communities. There have already been tar sands oil leaks, and we all know there will be more if you approve this pipeline. It is an awesome responsibility and a difficult political choice, but you can prevent the next big oil disaster.

If built, the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline would carry millions of gallons of the dirtiest oil in the world across America's heartland  endangering drinking water, numerous rivers, and the Ogalalla aquifer that irrigates America's breadbasket. But we don't have to take that chance, and I want to believe that you will fulfill your campaign promise to help get this country off of its oil addiction. We need your leadership to move us in the right direction.
 
This time, stand up to Big Oil and direct the State Department to reject the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.  You'll be helping transition our country to cleaner energy.  We need real solutions to our climate and energy crises, like clean cars and renewable energy, not more imports of the dirtiest oil on Earth. I am counting on you, and so are the next generations.

Sincerely,

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