NY Times Editorial Urges Obama Administration To Reject Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline

Brendan DeMelle DeSmog
on

The New York Times editorial today calls on the State Department and President Obama to reject the disastrous Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, which it correctly labels the โ€œwrong pipeline for the wrong oil.โ€

The NYT editors point to the environmental impacts of the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline from Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast, noting the destruction it would cause to Canadaโ€™s boreal forests, the threats to Midwest drinking water supplies from inevitable spills and accidents, and the climate impacts of supporting the extraction of the dirtiest oil on the planet.

Hillary Clintonโ€™s State Department is correctly called to account for its abysmal attempts at drafting an adequate Environmental Impact Statement, which the EPA has labeled โ€œinsufficientโ€ both times it has reviewed the document.

In a clear nod to the intense lobbying efforts of the pipelineโ€™s proponents, the Times urges Clintonโ€™s State Department to judge โ€œthe pipeline on the merits, not because of politics or pressure from the Canadian government, big oil and the industryโ€™s friends in Congress.โ€

Read the rest of the Timesโ€™ concise and necessary criticism of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline: โ€œWrong Pipeline, Wrong Assessmentโ€ at the Timesโ€™ website.

Brendan DeMelle DeSmog
Brendan is Executive Director of DeSmog. He is also a freelance writer and researcher specializing in media, politics, climate change and energy. His work has appeared in Vanity Fair, The Huffington Post, Grist, The Washington Times and other outlets.

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