Friend,
It’s impossible to sugar coat this: Today, President Obama stood in front of rows of pipe that TransCanada wants to use to build the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline and bowed to Big Oil. Instead of keeping his basic commitment to full and fair review of this dangerous pipeline, he issued an executive order to expedite it, pledging to “cut through the red tape” and “get it done” -- as if following bedrock environmental laws were a nuisance instead of a necessity.
As he said these words, President Obama was hiding. Indigenous community leaders, landowners, environmentalists and Occupy activists who showed up to voice their opposition were cordoned off miles away in a “free speech zone.”
It was grassroots pressure that compelled President Obama to reject the pipeline outright in January -- and we cannot allow President Obama to escape accountability now.
That’s why today, Friends of the Earth is launching a photo petition. We’re using a site called Tumblr to catalogue the faces of people across the country who remain strong and united in their opposition to more dirty tar sands oil and in their commitment to protect clean air and water and a safe climate for all families today and in the future.
Help us hold President Obama accountable. Click here to add your picture to the faces opposing the Keystone XL pipeline.
Our petition is called “Stand with David.” David Daniel is a 45-year-old carpenter living with his wife and four year-old daughter on land in Winnsboro, Texas directly in the route of Keystone XL and its toxic tar sands oil. David's been a leader organizing fellow landowners, farmers and members of his community to fight back.
Imagine being in David's shoes. You wake up one day to find a Canadian oil company decided to dig through your backyard. You read up on tar sands. You’re horrified. This pipeline would expose you and your family to serious health risks and threaten the water and safety of your community -- and potentially millions of other Americans -- along with the climate we all share. You organize to urge your elected officials to stand up to the greed of Big Oil, even get arrested on your president's doorstep.
Then, you see your president stand in front of that same oil company’s pipe and sell you out.
Visit our Tumblr photo petition and show President Obama why you stand with David and the broad coalition of labor unions, indigenous groups, environmentalists and landowners that oppose Keystone XL.
David is the first to say this isn't about his family alone -- it’s about all of us and the future we want to build together.
When you stand with David, you stand with everyone who would be impacted if President Obama continues to bow to Big Oil: with indigenous communities whose health is imperiled and rights trampled by tar sands mining, with ranchers in Nebraska who know that oil doesn’t mix with clean drinking water, with parents near Gulf refineries who are sick of their children’s lungs being used as filters for pollution, and with each and every one of us who want a livable climate.
Tell President Obama that double-dealing on our future is unacceptable. Add a picture showing why you Stand with David and oppose Keystone XL.
Kim Huynh, dirty fuels campaigner
Friends of the Earth |
