WASHINGTON, D.C. — The decision to proceed with the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, announced when Americans are rightly focused on their health and safety, will place critical waterways and wildlife habitat in jeopardy as well as threaten vulnerable populations. We should refocus the billions of dollars this project will require and invest them instead into responsibly sited and operated energy projects that will support wildlife and workers.
 
"We have 2.4 million miles of energy pipeline in America, enough to go to the moon and back twice,” said Mustafa Santiago Ali, vice president for environmental justice, climate and community revitalization at the National Wildlife Federation. “There is no reason to create more that will damage culture, place major water bodies in jeopardy from a breach and push more fossil fuel pollution into our atmosphere — and place more of our most vulnerable in jeopardy and exacerbate the climate crisis.”