"This was a gutsy call by the President. But it was also a victory for common sense. You don’t pipe potentially lethal goo through one of America’s largest wetland ecosystems.
"An environmental disaster of epic proportions has been avoided by the rejection of the Keystone pipeline, but we need to stand shoulder to shoulder to avoid such close calls in our future.
"The pipeline would have sent the world's dirtiest oil -- from Canada's tar sands -- over 1,700 miles through our countries farms, ranches, and through the Ogallala Aquifer -- the source of drinking water for 2 million people. Nearly 2,000 rivers, streams and other water bodies were in danger of repeating the Kalamazoo River disaster.
"One of the world's foremost experts on the damage Climate Change poses, NASA's James Hansen, called the pipeline 'essentially game over' for any hopes of stemming carbon emissions from fossils fuels.
"It’s time for a new game to begin. President Obama can take this strong stance further by pressing for incentives for renewable energies, creating Green jobs, and challenging America’s entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers and inventors to envision a future without fossil fuels.
"We also urge the administration to reject any reapplication of TransCanada for an alternate route through the sensitive habitat of Nebraska’s Sandhills.
“The Sandhills of Nebraska are a 19,000 square-mile grassland - the largest intact grassland in North America and home to many declining grassland bird species like the greater prairie-chicken. Their complex grasslands and wetlands overlie a massive groundwater reservoir known as the Ogallala aquifer."
“As this issue is debated in the future we encourage the President to continue to stand firm in his opposition to this harmful project.”
Read Yarnold’s Open Letter to Secretary Clinton Oct. 2011 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-yarnold/keystone-xl-pipeline-approval_b_1005000.html
Audubon magazine blog with map of proposed pipeline http://magblog.audubon.org/president-obama-denies-keystone-xl-pipeline-permit-rare-environmental-victory