As part of an ongoing effort to fight the Keystone XL pipeline, community members and Virginia Commonwealth University students met with Senator Mark Warner’s staff during Earth Week to set the record straight on the Tar Sands pipeline project.
This meeting was the latest action in a series of steps to hold Senator Mark Warner accountable for his recent support of this dangerous, dirty pipeline. Constituent meetings were also held in Vienna and Abingdon earlier in the week, where dozens of Virginians shared with Senator Warner’s staff why KXL means game over for the climate, and rising seas in Virginia.
During the hour long meeting with Warner’s top staffer, we were given the chance to debunk the State Department’s Environmental Impact Statement, and share why the rejection of the Keystone Pipeline is not in the best interest for Virginians. The sixteen of us came equipped with photos of the recent oil spill in Arkansas, the EPA’s critical analysis of the State Department’s EIS report, and fact sheets to back up our claims that not only will the Keystone pipeline not bring us energy independence or permanent jobs, but that it will significantly increase the carbon emissions already warming our planet, and therefor have disasterous affects on our planet.
In light of the Senator’s recent Earth Day Politico op-ed asking for strict energy efficiency standards, residents pointed out that energy efficiency simply won’t be enough, if Keystone XL is passed. The EPA estimates that the incremental emissions above and beyond the use of the oil for transportation alone would be like adding 6 million cars to the road; and as an entire project, the Tar Sands pipeline will put another 181 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent each year.
Brad Pearce, an English Grad student at VCU, asked Senator Warner’s staffer what it will take to make sure he knows that Keystone XL is something that won’t go away, especially with the youth vote. “Students care about the environment, and have been actively fighting this pipeline. If the Senator is worried about re-election, he needs to know that rejecting KXL is going to be a factor with college kids.”
Senator Warner has now seen well over 100 constituents up close and in person and heard from hundreds more, asking him to stand with Virignians and not the oil industry. The fight isn’t over, and hopefully our politicians know that in Virginia, we are ready to do what it takes to stop the Keystone XL pipeline.
