After Dead-End Keystone XL Debate, Senate Should Look to Conservation Gains

Miles Grant

Jan 29, 2015

"From destructive tar sands mining to its risky route through sensitive wildlife habitat to its polluting end product, it’s clear that the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would be bad for wildlife at every step of the way."

The U.S. Senate is expected to pass a bill today that would short-circuit the federal review of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and force its approval.

Jim Lyon, vice president for conservation policy at the National Wildlife Federation, said today:

“From destructive tar sands mining to its risky route through sensitive wildlife habitat to its polluting end product, it’s clear that the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would be bad for wildlife at every step of the way. Thankfully, we expect any legislation to short-circuit the Keystone XL review process to be vetoed by President Obama.

“But while this bill may be a dead end, there were glimmers of hope in its debate. We found out the votes are there to fully reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund. We learned that a bipartisan majority of senators support climate science. At a time when we hear so much about gridlock in Washington, this is a chance for real, bipartisan progress and our leaders should quickly move to cement it.”

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National Wildlife Federation’s work fighting proposed tar sands infrastructure expansions like Keystone XL, Alberta Clipper, and the Portland-Montreal pipeline.

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