Pipeline Protesters Greet President Obama at Fundraiser in New York

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Contacto:
Alex Moore, Friends of the Earth, 503-886-9738 (cell), 202-222-0733 (office), [email protected]
Cat Glenn, New York Action Network, 912-398-1538 (cell), [email protected]

Pipeline Protesters Greet President Obama at Fundraiser in New York

Activists against piping dirty tar sands oil into the U.S. ask Obama to reject the Keystone XL pipeline

NEW YORK, N.Y. — As President Obama arrives here for a Democratic campaign fundraiser today, activists with signs and banners are calling on him to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry dirty tar sands oil to the U.S.

“The proposed Keystone XL pipeline would leave many communities vulnerable to oil spills and leaks,” said Alex Moore, dirty fuels campaigner with Friends of the Earth. “Piping tar sands oil across the United States would pollute the air and water, ultimately harming the health of people in the path of the pipeline.”

The demonstration taking place today outside the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan was organized by Friends of the Earth and New York Action Network. Demonstrators are confronting the president with a banner reading: “President Obama: Stop the Keystone Pipeline, Protect Our Water.”

At the same time in Washington, D.C., a delegation of indigenous leaders from the United States and Canada were meeting with the White House Council on Environmental Quality to express their concerns about tar sands development in their communities.

“When New Yorkers elected President Obama, we were voting for the clean energy future he promised, not more dirty oil pipelines,” said Cat Glenn, a student at Fordham University and member of the New York Action Network. “President Obama has an opportunity to show leadership by denying the permit for the pipeline and preventing future fossil fuel disasters.”

The Keystone XL pipeline would carry oil from Canada’s tar sands, the dirtiest oil available, through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. In recent weeks, Congress has been investigating pipeline safety following incidents in Michigan and Illinois that spilled a combined one million gallons of oil.

Puede encontrar más información sobre el oleoducto Keystone XL en: /oleoducto keystone-xl

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Amigos de la Tierra (www.foe.org) y nuestra federación de grupos de base en 77 países son una fuerza impulsora del uso sostenible y justo de los recursos de la Tierra. Somos progresistas que enfrentamos los factores económicos que impulsan la destrucción ecológica y la injusticia, y que no dudamos en decir verdades, a veces incómodas, a los poderosos. Nuestras campañas actuales se centran en promover la energía limpia y las soluciones al cambio climático, evitar que las tecnologías tóxicas y peligrosas se filtren en los alimentos que consumimos y los productos que utilizamos, y proteger los ecosistemas marinos y a las personas que viven y trabajan cerca de ellos.