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Sierra Club Lawsuits

Coalition Groups Act to Protect West and Midwest from Dirty Oil Development

Case Updates:

May 28, 2009

On May 28, 2009, a coalition of groups, including Sierra Club, sent letters to the Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, warning that construction of three massive pipelines designed to carry dirty oil from the Alberta tar sands into the U.S. would threaten communities across the West and Midwest. Farmers, steelworkers, tribes, rural citizens and environmentalists are urging the agency not to approve the projects’ safety plans, citing numerous concerns about the pipelines, such as the use of cheap materials and inadequate safety measures. Local communities have also expressed concern that the agency did not give them an opportunity to weigh in on emergency response plans for the pipelines, which pose a threat of oil spills.

The detrimental impacts of these pipelines are numerous. As Sierra Club Legal Director, Pat Gallagher, said, "[i]n addition to threatening rural communities, these pipelines would support expansion of tar sands oil, the dirtiest fuel on earth. The tar sands industry ruins the precious forests and birds of Canada. It also creates a staggering amount of global warming pollution. We shouldn't let America's farmland and waterways become the latest casualties of the tar sands industry."

Details and Documents:

Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, & Plains Justice's Letter to the Department of Transportation
May 28, 2009