Washington, D.C.- EWG Executive Director Heather White said today that by pledging to veto the Keystone XL pipeline, President Obama is sending a message to anti-environmentalists in Congress: “Bring it on.” We welcome his commitment to stand up for the environment and public health in the face of political opposition.
White said:
“We applaud President Obama’s decision to stop the destructive development of the Keystone XL pipeline. With his vow to veto the legislation that would authorize the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, the President is sending a clear message to the new anti-environmental majority in Congress to ‘bring it on’ because he will continue to fight for American’s public health and the environment.”
“If constructed, the proposed 1,179-mile pipeline from the Canadian province of Alberta, to Nebraska would have pumped millions of tons of greenhouse gases and toxic air pollutants into the atmosphere. A tar sand spill from this pipeline could have contaminated drinking water and agricultural land with toxic chemicals, as EWG's 2013 Poisons in the Pipeline investigation of the devastating tar sands oil spill in Mayflower, Ark.”
“We need a bold, national energy policy that invests in the future of renewable energy and energy efficiency, not tar sands and the energy of the past. The President’s commitment to veto Keystone XL helps to put us on that track. We need the President’s leadership now more than ever as the new Congress plans an all-out assault on federal environmental laws.”
