Brooke Anderson Photography
Last week, in an effort to revive the previously rejected Keystone XL, President Trump issued five executive actions supporting the crude oil pipeline.
In November 2015 President Barack Obama rejected the proposed 1,200-mile-long pipeline that would carry 800,000 gallons of fracked, crude oil a day from the Canadian tar sand fields in Alberta to refineries on the Gulf Coast. After his decision, Obama told the nation, "We know that human activity is changing the climate. We know that human ingenuity can do something about it. We're even starting to see that we might actually have the political will to succeed. So the time to heed the critics and cynics is past. The time to plead ignorance is surely past. The deniers are increasingly alone, on their own shrinking island."
Unfortunately, that once-“shrinking island” seems to be re-emerging. Trump’s invitation to TransCanada to resubmit their proposal was met with eager readiness from the greedy energy corporation. TransCanada immediately responded with promises of thousands of well-paying construction jobs and a windfall of tens of millions of dollars in annual property taxes to counties along the route—as well as more than $3 billion to the U.S GDP. Ironically, as TransCanada assured the media and concerned citizens that “KXL represents the safest, most environmentally sound way to connect the American economy to an abundant energy resource,” news emerged that a pipeline in the western Canadian province of Saskatchewan had leaked 52,834 gallons of oil into the lands of a local First Nation community.
But, there is hope. Bold Alliance president, Jane Kleeb expressed her confidence after seeing the extent to which farmers opposed the first attempts at the KXL project. She announced that Trump is “in for a big fight,” if he attempts to use eminent domain to obtain land for the building process because eminent domain requires that the project be in the public’s interest, and as Obama concluded, the Keystone XL Pipeline does not meet this standard.
“Nebraskans are strong, independent people who will not be intimidated,” said Tom Genung, chair of the Landowner Collective Nebraska Easement Action Team. “We stood up to TransCanada before and we will do it again. Our newly elected president has no credibility and TransCanada has no permit. As we know, the promises of hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue are bogus claims; Keystone XL is an export pipeline. Thanks to organizations like Bold Nebraska, 350.org and others, we are organized and educated, and we will protect our land and water! No, Mr. President, just NO.”
But Nebraskans are not the only ones who will be fighting for the protection of their land and for the health of the planet. Post-election, a committed army of global-minded citizens has begun to rise. Climate activists and humanitarians across the globe have assumed responsibility as global citizens and are ready to connect, organize, and rally to protect humanity and the environment.
Last week the Sierra Club helped organize and support rallies in Washington, D.C., where more than 1,000 activists gathered outside of the White House on Tuesday; New York City, where more than 1,000 took to the streets surrounding the Trump Towers; and San Francisco, where roughly 1,500 gathered outside of the federal building on Thursday evening. The Sierra Club has submitted a letter to the State Department stating that the 2014 Environmental Impact Statement cannot be relied upon. The letter demands that another review be conducted for Keystone XL. Sierra Club promises to support on-the-ground efforts at the state level and will stand behind the Rosebud Sioux in South Dakota, who fought Keystone XL for years under the previous application.
Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, demonstrated his concern for the environment by signing the Paris climate accord and banning offshore oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean. In a recent statement, Tim Gray, executive director of Environmental Defense in Canada, said, “The Canadian public is widely opposed to any increase in pipeline capacity and anything that would compromise our emissions-reductions promises. They [TransCanada] will have a hard time attracting the capital necessary for the pipeline to be built.”
Leaders of the initially successful anti-Keystone XL campaign have vowed to continue mobilizing and are preparing to re-join the resistance. At a recent press event, Joye Braun of South Dakota’s Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe said of Trump, "he effectively called a war against the Great Sioux Nation, saying that he didn't care about the indigenous people here in the U.S. We will stand and we will fight using nonviolent action and prayer to protect our people, to protect our land, and to protect our water."
What can you do? Tell President Trump that we will not back down. We will stand with our allies and do everything in our power to prevent the Keystone XL Pipeline and Dakota Access Pipeline—that was reauthorized by Trump last week— from being built on our sacred lands. Send him a tweet now, or send a message directly to the White House.
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