Can science win out over the almighty dollar?

Mon Apr 07, 2014 at 08:50 AM PDT

Public letter from 100+ scientists and economists urges rejection of Keystone XL pipeline (Click here to read more of the letter and to see the signatories)

by Laurence LewisFollow

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 April 7, 2014
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President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
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Secretary John Kerry
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
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Dear President Obama and Secretary Kerry,
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As scientists and economists, we are concerned about climate change and its impacts. We urge you to reject the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline as a project that will contribute to climate change at a time when we should be doing all we can to put clean energy alternatives in place.
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As you both have made clear, climate change is a very serious problem. We must address climate change by decarbonizing our energy supply. A critical first step is to stop making climate change worse by tapping into disproportionately carbon-intensive energy sources like tar sands bitumen. The Keystone XL pipeline will drive expansion of the energy-intensive strip-mining and drilling of tar sands from under Canada’s Boreal forest, increasing global carbon emissions. Keystone XL is a step in the wrong direction.
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President Obama, you said in your speech in Georgetown last year that “allowing the Keystone pipeline to be built requires a finding that doing so would be in our nation’s interest. And our national interest will be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.”

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