Memo to President Cites New Evidence of Climate Impacts of Proposed Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline

President Obama should reject the proposed Keystone XL pipeline because there is new data that shows it would dramatically expand development of dirty tar sands oil, turbo-charging climate change by adding millions of tons of carbon pollution to the atmosphere every year, according to a memo sent to Obama by Oil Change International and the Natural Resources Defense Council, along with the League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club, 350.org, CREDO, and Bold Nebraska.

The memo, delivered to the White House Friday, analyzes current oil and transport economics, the climate impacts of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline on tar sands expansion, and cites a November U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report stating that 75 to 86 percent of the world’s fossil fuels must stay undeveloped to escape serious impacts of climate change.

Together, these factors provide fresh evidence that the proposed Keystone XL tar sands project fails the “climate test” President Obama laid out last year and should be rejected.

“Because of the drop in oil price among other factors, it is now undeniable that the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline will cause significant additional carbon pollution and it therefore now clearly fails the climate test that the president established at Georgetown University last year,” said Stephen Kretzmann, executive director of Oil Change International.  “The proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline should be the first fossil fuel project rejected explicitly on climate grounds.  It will not be the last."

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