Obama vetoes Keystone XL pipeline bill

The U.S. President Barack Obama vetoed the Keystone XL pipeline bill Tuesday, reiterating that the decision to build the project belongs to the government.

"Through this bill, the United States Congress attempts to circumvent longstanding and proven processes for determining whether or not building and operating a cross-border pipeline serves the national interest," said Obama in his veto message.

"This act of Congress conflicts with established executive branch procedures and cuts short through consideration of issues that could bear on our national interest, including our security, safety and environment, it has earned my veto," said Obama.

In a statement, U.S. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said: "It's extremely disappointing that President Obama vetoed a bipartisan bill that would support thousands of good jobs and pump billions of dollars into the economy."

The Senate will soon vote on an override no later than March 3, said McConnell.

However, right now the Republicans didn't get a veto-proof majority both in the Senate and the House.

The Keystone XL oil pipeline which is designed to go from Canada through the U.S. State of Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska has been delayed by the U.S. government for several years as the government failed to finish its environmental impact evaluation. 
  Xinhua - china.org.cn
25/2/15
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Related:

• US President Barack Obama has vetoed a bill that would have approved construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline...

• US Senate Likely to Vote on Keystone XL Next Week

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• US House approves Keystone XL pipeline (266 votes to 153)

• US Senate Energy Committee Passes Keystone XL Bill...

• The White House says U.S. President Barack Obama would veto legislation approving construction of the long-stalled Keystone XL oil pipeline...

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• US Senate fails to approve Keystone XL pipeline. (just one vote short of the 60 needed)

• US says no significant impact on environment from Keystone pipeline

US Senate Likely to Vote on Keystone XL Next Week

The US Senate will likely vote on the Keystone XL Pipeline bill next week before advancing it to US President Barack Obama’s desk for approval, Republican Senator from North Dakota John Hoeven said, following the president’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday.
 “I anticipate that next week sometime we’ll have a vote in the Senate [on the Keystone XL Pipeline bill] hopefully advance it and go to conference with the House and then send it to the president [Obama],” Hoeven said during an interview with C-SPAN when asked when the Keystone XL Pipeline bill would be voted on in the US Senate.

Senator Hoeven argued that President Obama was taking credit for the United States, producing more oil and gas and becoming more energy secure. However, Hoeven said that if the president vetoed the Keystone bill, as he has stated previously, he would be “holding up the kind of infrastructure we need to continue to do it again.”

During State of the Union address on Tuesday, Obama urged Congress to pass a bipartisan infrastructure plan that could create more jobs than the current Keystone XL Pipeline proposal, allowing the company TransCanada Corporation to build and operate the pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to the US Gulf Coast.

The US Senate will likely vote on the Keystone XL Pipeline bill next week before advancing it to US President Barack Obama’s desk for approval, Republican Senator from North Dakota John Hoeven said, following the president’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday.

“I anticipate that next week sometime we’ll have a vote in the Senate [on the Keystone XL Pipeline bill] hopefully advance it and go to conference with the House and then send it to the president [Obama],” Hoeven said during an interview with C-SPAN when asked when the Keystone XL Pipeline bill would be voted on in the US Senate.

Senator Hoeven argued that President Obama was taking credit for the United States, producing more oil and gas and becoming more energy secure. However, Hoeven said that if the president vetoed the Keystone bill, as he has stated previously, he would be “holding up the kind of infrastructure we need to continue to do it again.”

During State of the Union address on Tuesday, Obama urged Congress to pass a bipartisan infrastructure plan that could create more jobs than the current Keystone XL Pipeline proposal, allowing the company TransCanada Corporation to build and operate the pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to the US Gulf Coast.
 http://sputniknews.com/us/20150121/1017159145.html
21/1/15
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Related:

• US House approves Keystone XL pipeline (266 votes to 153)

• US Senate Energy Committee Passes Keystone XL Bill...

• The White House says U.S. President Barack Obama would veto legislation approving construction of the long-stalled Keystone XL oil pipeline...

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• US Senate fails to approve Keystone XL pipeline. (just one vote short of the 60 needed)

• US says no significant impact on environment from Keystone pipeline

US House approves Keystone XL pipeline (266 votes to 153)

The Republican-controlled House approved the Keystone XL oil pipeline easily on Friday, ignoring the recent veto threat against this project from US President Obama.

The House passed the project by 266 votes to 153, the tenth time that the chamber has passed the pro-Keystone legislation. The Senate is set to consider the legislation next week.

Just hours before the House's vote, Nebraska's Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision to greenlight the construction of the project, ruling out one of the arguments that the White House can block the project.

The White House spokesman Eric Schultz said in a statement that the administration would incorporate the court's decision into its evaluation of Keystone.

"President Obama is out of excuses for deciding whether or not to allow thousands of Americans to get back to work," Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement referring to the court decision.

But Schultz also reiterated the president's veto threat saying the House bill still conflicts with longstanding presidential authority and the review process of complex issues bearing national interests.

"If presented to the president, he will veto the bill," said Schultz.

The 7-billion-US dollar project is proposed to go from Canada through the US State of Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect with existing pipelines to carry more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day to refineries along the US Gulf Coast.

The project has been delayed for years as critics say it could worsen climate change by enabling further growth from the oil sands, which create higher greenhouse gas emissions than some other forms of production.

But Republicans insist that it will create jobs and enhance US energy security and Mitch McConnell has said the first bill that the Republican-led Senate will bring to President Obama's desk is the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The White House said on Tuesday that President Obama would not sign the legislation approving the Keystone XL pipeline project before the State Department finishes its review process even if the Congress passed the controversial legislation.


Analysts said at present Republicans still do not have a veto- proof majority to pass the bill.
 Source:Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
10/1/15
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Related:

• US Senate Energy Committee Passes Keystone XL Bill...

• The White House says U.S. President Barack Obama would veto legislation approving construction of the long-stalled Keystone XL oil pipeline...

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• US Senate fails to approve Keystone XL pipeline. (just one vote short of the 60 needed)

• US says no significant impact on environment from Keystone pipeline

US Senate fails to approve Keystone XL pipeline. (just one vote short of the 60 needed)

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday failed to pass legislation approving construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline after the Republican-controlled House approved the same bill last week.
The Democratic-led Senate voted 59 to 41 to defeat the legislation that would bring Canada's oil sands to refineries in the United States, just one vote short of the 60 needed for passage in the 100-member chamber.

The 7-billion-U.S. dollar Keystone XL project is proposed to go from Canada through the U.S. State of Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect with existing pipelines to carry more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day to refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The project has been delayed for years as critics say it could worsen climate change by enabling further growth from the oil sands, which create higher greenhouse gas emissions than some other forms of production. But Republicans insist that it will create jobs and enhance U.S. energy security.

The State Department said in April that it will provide more time for relative federal agencies to review the Keystone XL pipeline project, "based on the uncertainty created by the on-going litigation in the Nebraska Supreme Court which could ultimately affect the pipeline route in that state".

U.S. President Barack Obama also said last week that lawmakers should not "short-circuit" the federal review of the pipeline that is already underway. The Nebraska Supreme Court is expected to issue a verdict on the route of the pipeline by the end of this year, according to local media.

The Senate is likely to advance the Keystone XL pipeline legislation again next January, when Republicans take over the majority in the upper chamber. But it's unclear whether Obama will veto the bill if the Republican-controlled both chambers approve the legislation. Analysts said the controversial pipeline has become a potent symbol of energy and environmental policy to serve both sides as a political tool.  
  Xinhua - china.org.cn 
 19/11/14
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Related:

• US Senate narrowly fails to pass Keystone XL pipeline bill ... 

• US says no significant impact on environment from Keystone pipeline

• ΗΠΑ: Yπό όρους η κατασκευή του αγωγού πετρελαίου. -Keystone XL pipeline

• Καναδάς: Επιστολή-έκκληση προς τον Ομπάμα για τον αγωγό Keystone. -Προσφέρει ως αντάλλαγμα μείωση εκπομπών / Canada implores Obama for Keystone XL decision

ΗΠΑ: Yπό όρους η κατασκευή του αγωγού πετρελαίου. -Keystone XL pipeline

Ο Λευκός Οίκος ανακοίνωσε αργά το βράδυ της Παρασκευής (ώρα Ουάσιγκτον) ότι η κεντρική πολιτική απόφαση για την κατασκευή του αγωγού μεταφοράς πετρελαίου με την επωνυμία «Keystone XL» θα έρθει μόνο μετά από προσεκτική εξέταση μιας νέας μελέτης των περιβαλλοντικών επιπτώσεων που συνέταξε το Στέιτ Ντιπάρτμεντ, καθώς και διάφορες άλλες παρατηρήσεις και πληροφορίες σχετικών με το ζήτημα οργανώσεων.
«Η απόφαση για το κατά πόσον το έργο είναι προς το εθνικό συμφέρον θα πρέπει να ληφθεί μόνο μετά από προσεκτική εξέταση (της μελέτης περιβαλλοντικών επιπτώσεων του Στέιτ Ντιπάρτμεντ) και από άλλες σχετικές πληροφορίες, σχόλια από τους πολίτες, καθώς και απόψεις των επικεφαλής των οργανισμών», δήλωσε ο Μάτ Λέχριχ ένας εκ των εκπροσώπων του Λευκού Οίκου.

«Η τελική έκθεση περιβαλλοντικών επιπτώσεων περιλαμβάνει μια σειρά από εκτιμήσεις των κλιματικών επιπτώσεων του έργου, ενώ οι πληροφορίες θα πρέπει τώρα να αξιολογηθούν από τον υπουργό Κέρι και άλλους επικεφαλής οργανισμών στις επόμενες εβδομάδες», συμπλήρωσε ο εκπρόσωπος του Λευκού Οίκου.
 zougla.gr
1/4/14
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• US says no significant impact on environment from Keystone pipeline

• Report: Keystone XL pipeline 'won't boost oil sands use'...

• USA: un rapport ouvre la voie à l'approbation de l'oléoduc Keystone XL...

US says no significant impact on environment from Keystone pipeline

The US State Department released a much-anticipated environmental review Friday of a controversial oil pipeline project from Canada, raising no major objections to the plan.

"The analyses of potential impacts associated with construction and normal operation of the proposed project suggest that significant impacts to most resources are not expected along the proposed project route," the huge report said about the Keystone pipeline.

The proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline is unlikely to increase the pace of Canadian oil sands development, a US State Department study said, raising pressure on President Barack Obama to approve a project environmentalists see as a major climate change problem.

The massive 11-volume environmental impact study released on Friday did not recommend whether President Barack Obama should grant or deny an application by TransCanada Corp to build the $5.4 billion line, which would transport crude from Alberta's oil sands to US refineries.

But a State Department official who briefed reporters ahead of the report's release said that blocking Keystone - or any pipeline - would do little to slow the expansion of Canada's vast oil patch, maintaining the central finding of the State Department's preliminary study issued last year.

The report's publication opened a new and potentially final stage of an approval process that has dragged for more than five years, taking on enormous symbolic political significance, potentially helping define Obama's legacy.

With another three-month review process ahead and no firm deadline for a decision on the 1,179-mile line, the issue threatens to drag into the 2014 congressional elections in November. Obama is under pressure from several vulnerable Democratic senators who favor the pipeline and face re-election at a time when Democrats are scrambling to hang on to control of the US Senate.........................http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_02_01/Keystone-pipeline-will-not-affect-Canada-oil-sands-growth-US-State-Department-0800/
1/4/14
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Related:

• Keystone pipeline won’t hurt environment much, US govt report says...

• Keystone pipeline 'would not significantly worsen climate change': U.S. State Dept....

• Keystone XL: No US decision yet on Canada pipeline. -Kerry

•  U.S. president needs to make up his mind on Keystone XL: John Baird...

• Υπέρ του αγωγού Keystone οι περισσότεροι Αμερικανοί

• Καναδάς: Επιστολή-έκκληση προς τον Ομπάμα για τον αγωγό Keystone. -Προσφέρει ως αντάλλαγμα μείωση εκπομπών / Canada implores Obama for Keystone XL decision

• No peace pipe: Native American tribes on warpath over Keystone XL pipeline

• Obama conteste les arguments des partisans de l'oléoduc Keystone XL...

• ΗΠΑ: Διαμαρτυρία κατά του πετρελαιαγωγού Keystone XL

Keystone XL: No US decision yet on Canada pipeline. -Kerry

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State John Kerry Friday refused to answer Canadian calls on whether or not Washington will approve the construction of a controversial oil pipeline, saying it was still under review.
"I can promise our friends in Canada that ... all the appropriate effort has been put into trying to get this done effectively and rapidly," Kerry said, ahead of talks with his Canadian counterpart John Baird.
But he said the State Department was still reviewing the environmental impact of the long-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline which is intended to carry heavy crude from Alberta's oil sands to Texas refineries.
"An analysis will be made with respect to the national interest ultimately. And we're just not at that point yet, haven't received it, they haven't finished it," Kerry told reporters, ahead of his bilateral talks with Baird.

A months-long review process solicited over a million responses, and Kerry said the queries had to be given "appropriate answers."
"The public has a role in this. We're all accountable to our publics. The democratic process demands that we do that," the top US diplomat said.
Baird said he hoped Washington would release its report "in short order and that the administration will be in a position to make a positive decision."
"Obviously, this is a tremendously important project for the future prosperity of the Canadian economy," Baird said.
"It's a great project. It'll create a lot of jobs here in the United States. It's a great project which will increase the energy security of our closest friend and ally."
At a speech on Thursday at the US Chamber of Commerce, Baird had called on the United States to end its foot-dragging over the issue.
"The time for Keystone is now," he said.
"I'll go further -- the time for a decision on Keystone is now, even if it's not the right one. We can't continue in this state of limbo."
US President Barack Obama is expected to decide this year whether to greenlight the $5.3 billion, 1,179-mile (1,897-kilometre) pipeline, first proposed back in 2008.
The project was put forth by TransCanada, which operates oil and gas pipelines in North America.
Environmentalists have opposed the pipeline because the oil it will carry requires huge amounts of energy and water to extract, and producing and refining it generates a large amount of damaging emissions in the process.
They also warn the pipeline will carry risks of environmentally damaging spills.

- AFP/ac

 http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/international/no-us-decision-yet-on/958348.html

18/1/14 (A.T.)

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Related:

•  U.S. president needs to make up his mind on Keystone XL: John Baird...

• Υπέρ του αγωγού Keystone οι περισσότεροι Αμερικανοί

• Καναδάς: Επιστολή-έκκληση προς τον Ομπάμα για τον αγωγό Keystone. -Προσφέρει ως αντάλλαγμα μείωση εκπομπών / Canada implores Obama for Keystone XL decision

• No peace pipe: Native American tribes on warpath over Keystone XL pipeline

• Obama conteste les arguments des partisans de l'oléoduc Keystone XL...

• ΗΠΑ: Διαμαρτυρία κατά του πετρελαιαγωγού Keystone XL

Υπέρ του αγωγού Keystone οι περισσότεροι Αμερικανοί

Υπέρ του πετρελαιαγωγού Keystone XL τάσσονται οι περισσότεροι αμερικανοί, σύμφωνα με δημοσκόπηση που πραγματοποίησε το Bloomberg, εκτιμώντας ότι ο αγωγός θα ωφελήσει την ενεργειακή ασφάλεια των ΗΠΑ.

Αναλυτικότερα, το 56% των ερωτηθέντων θεωρεί ότι ο αγωγός, κόστους 5,4 δις δολαρίων, αποτελεί ευκαιρία για τη μείωση της εξάρτησης από τις εισαγωγές πετρελαίου.
Αντιθέτως, το 35% των ερωτηθέντων βλέπουν τον αγωγό ως μία πιθανή πηγή καταστροφικών πετρελαιοκηλίδων και εκπομπών αερίων του θερμοκηπίου.

 energypress.gr

13/12/13

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• Καναδάς: Επιστολή-έκκληση προς τον Ομπάμα για τον αγωγό Keystone. -Προσφέρει ως αντάλλαγμα μείωση εκπομπών / Canada implores Obama for Keystone XL decision

• No peace pipe: Native American tribes on warpath over Keystone XL pipeline

• Obama conteste les arguments des partisans de l'oléoduc Keystone XL...

  • ΗΠΑ: Διαμαρτυρία κατά του πετρελαιαγωγού Keystone XL

    

     

    

Καναδάς: Επιστολή-έκκληση προς τον Ομπάμα για τον αγωγό Keystone. -Προσφέρει ως αντάλλαγμα μείωση εκπομπών / Canada implores Obama for Keystone XL decision

Ο πρωθυπουργός του Καναδά Στίβεν Χάρπερ υπογράφει επιστολή με παραλήπτη τον αμερικανό πρόεδρο, ζητώντας του να συμφωνήσει στην κατασκευή του αμφιλεγόμενου αγωγού Keystone XL με αντάλλαγμα στενότερη συνεργασία για τη μείωση των εκπομπών αερίων του θερμοκηπίου από τον κλάδο του πετρελαίου και του φυσικού αερίου, επιβεβαίωσαν καναδοί αξιωματούχοι, τους οποίους επικαλούνται τα μέσα ενημέρωσης της χώρας.

Οι δύο ηγέτες συναντήθηκαν για λίγη ώρα στο περιθώριο της συνόδου των G20, στην Αγία Πετρούπολη, όμως το θέμα της Συρίας κυριάρχησε στη συζήτηση. Σύμφωνα με το καναδικό δίκτυο CBC, ο Λευκός Οίκος δεν απάντησε στην επιστολή, η οποία εστάλη στο τέλος του περασμένου μήνα.

Υπενθυμίζεται ότι ο Μπαράκ Ομπάμα δεν έχει ακόμη λάβει την τελική απόφαση, λέγοντας ότι θα δώσει το «πράσινο φως» για την κατασκευή του αγωγού μόνο εφόσον «δεν επιδεινώνει σημαντικά το πρόβλημα της ρύπανσης από άνθρακα». Υπό καθεστώς ανωνυμίας, καναδοί αξιωματούχοι εκφράζουν κατά καιρούς τη δυσαρέσκειά τους για το γεγονός ότι ο αμερικανός πρόεδρος δεν έχει διευκρινίσει τι ανταλλάγματα επιθυμεί.
Το έργο, που αναμένεται να στοιχίσει 5,3 δισεκατομμύρια δολάρια, θα μεταφέρει καθημερινά έως και 830.000 βαρέλια αργού πετρελαίου από την πετρελαιοφόρο άμμο της Αλμπέρτα στα διυλιστήρια του Κόλπου του Μεξικού.

Περιβαλλοντικές οργανώσεις και στις δύο χώρες επέκριναν τον καναδό πρωθυπουργό, μετά από τις αναφορές για την επιστολή. Σε ανακοίνωσή της, η 350.org έκανε λόγο για μια «απελπισμένη», «ύστατη απόπειρα εξαπάτησης από την κυβέρνηση του Καναδά», ενώ το καναδικό παράρτημα της Greenpeace υποστήριξε ότι, έπειτα από χρόνια αδράνειας στο μέτωπο της κλιματικής αλλαγής, κάθε υπόσχεση από την πλευρά του Καναδά φαντάζει πολύ «ρηχή».

Σημειώνεται ότι οι Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες βρίσκονται σε τροχιά επίτευξης του στόχου που έχουν θέσει για μείωση των εκπομπών αερίων του θερμοκηπίου έως το 2020, όμως με τα σημερινά δεδομένα ο Καναδάς φαίνεται πως θα πιάσει μόλις το 50% του δικού του στόχου. Πολέμιοι του Keystone XL προειδοποιούν ότι οι στόχοι θα παραμείνουν άπιαστο όνειρο με την κατασκευή του αγωγού.
 http://www.naftemporiki.gr
9/9/13
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ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ:

• No peace pipe: Native American tribes on warpath over Keystone XL pipeline

• Obama conteste les arguments des partisans de l'oléoduc Keystone XL...

  • ΗΠΑ: Διαμαρτυρία κατά του πετρελαιαγωγού Keystone XL

• Canada implores Obama for Keystone decision..

Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper sent President Obama a letter in August that all but begged him to OK the Keystone XL pipeline project.

Citing high-level sources, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported that the letter indicates "the prime minister is willing to accept targets proposed by the United States for reducing the climate-changing emissions and is prepared to work in concert with Obama to provide whatever political cover he needs to approve the project."

Obama has yet to respond to the letter.

The $7 billion project would build a pipeline from Canada south through the plains states to the Gulf of Mexico. While privately funded, it requires the approval of both governments......http://washingtonexaminer.com/canada-implores-obama-for-keystone-decision/article/2535419
8/9/13

No peace pipe: Native American tribes on warpath over Keystone XL pipeline

Leaders from 11 Native American tribes stormed out of a meeting with US federal officials in Rapid City, South Dakota, to protest the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which they say will lead to ‘environmental genocide.’
Native Americans are opposed to the 1,179-mile (1,897km) Keystone XL project, a system to transport tar sands oil from Canada and the northern United States to refineries in Texas for various reasons, including possible damage to sacred sites, pollution, and water contamination.
Although the planned pipeline would not pass directly through any Native American reservation, tribes in proximity to the proposed system say it will violate their traditional lands and that the environmental risks of the project are simply too great.

Russ Girling, CEO of TransCanada, the company that hopes to build the pipeline, has promised in the past that Keystone XL will be “the safest pipeline ever built.”
The Indian groups, as well as other activist organizations, doubt the claim, saying the risks involved in the project are too high.
In an effort to ease their concerns, officials from the Department of State agreed to meet with tribal leaders on Thursday in the Hilton Garden Inn in Rapid City, Michigan.
Before the talks could begin, however, tribal leaders walked out, angered that the government had sent what they considered low-level representatives.
In a press conference following the walkout, tribal leaders took turns criticizing the project, as well as the Obama administration.
"I will only meet with President Obama," Bryan Brewer, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, told the Rapid City Journal.
Others mentioned environmental concerns with the proposed pipeline, which echo the concern of environmental groups across the country.

President Barack Obama speaks at the southern site of the Keystone XL pipeline on March 22, 2012 in Cushing, Oklahoma (AFP Photo / Tom Pennington)

Casey Camp-Horinek, an elder with the Southern Ponca Tribe based in Oklahoma, compared the pipeline and other environmental damage to the historical events that had decimated her people during European colonization.
"We find ourselves victims of another form of genocide, and it's environmental genocide, and it's caused by the extractive industries," she said.
Charles LoneChief, vice president of the Pawnee Business Council, headquartered in Oklahoma, said the public was misinformed about the pipeline's environmental risks.
Unlike a traditional crude oil pipeline, Keystone XL will pump oil that is collected from tar sands. To turn this substance into a transportable liquid, oil companies must add chemicals that environmental groups warn are highly toxic.
"That gets into our waterways, our water tables, our aquifers, then we have problems," LoneChief said.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has estimated that the Keystone XL pipeline will increase annual US carbon pollution emissions by up to 27.6 million metric tons – the impact of adding nearly 6 million cars on the road, according to the Environment News Service.
Robin LeBeau, a council representative for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe based in South Dakota, pledged to protest against any construction, even if that meant standing in front of bulldozers.
"What the State Department, what President Obama needs to hear from us, is that we are going to be taking direct action,"she said.
I believe this is going to be one of the biggest battles we are ever going to have, LeBeau added.
This is not the first time that Native American groups have spoken out on the project.
Leaders from ten Canadian and US indigenous groups gathered in Ottawa, Ontario in March to protest the construction of pipelines.
“Tar sands pipelines will not pass through [our] collective territories under any conditions or circumstances,” the tribes said at a press conference.
.rt.com
18/5/13
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