FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 18, 2018
Contact: Dani Heffernan, dani@nokxlpromise.org, +1 (305) 992-1544
Statement: TransCanada Claims Commercial Support
for Keystone XL Pipeline
Lower Brule, SD — Today, TransCanada Corporation released a statement claiming that they have the support from shippers needed for the Keystone XL pipeline, including commitments from a corporation owned by the Alberta government. However, the company has not yet made a final decision on whether to move forward with the project. The coalition behind the Promise to Protect, which has received commitments from nearly 14,000 people to join peaceful resistance along the Keystone XL route when called upon, gave the following responses:
May Boeve, 350.org Executive Director, said:
“The Alberta government is grasping at straws to keep TransCanada’s pipeline afloat, but finding investors is only one of many hurdles for Keystone XL. This pipeline still faces several legal challenges, from a federal lawsuit to an appeal in Nebraska. What’s more, frontline communities living along the route, including farmers and Indigenous nations, are ready to lead peaceful resistance to the project with support from tens of thousands of allies across the country. Investing in pipelines is like lighting your money on fire, and it will be a slow burn for Keystone XL as we continue to block this pipeline every step of the way. The bottom line remains that all fossil fuel pipelines are bad for people and the planet.”
Dallas Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network, said:
“Our network stands united with the tribal nations and communities along the proposed route of this dirty tar sands pipeline. We denounce this apparent collusion between the government of alberta and the oil corporations that seek to plunder more lands of the Cree, Dene, and Metis peoples of northern Alberta for tar sands extraction. This announcement does not change the immense hurdles TransCanada faces across the board, and it does not change the immense grassroots resistance united to stop this project. In defense of Mother Earth, we fight on!”
Judith LeBlanc, Director of the Native Organizers Alliance, said:
“Our resistance is solid as a rock, all along the KXL Pipeline route. The Native and non-Native unity that has grown out of this fight only grows stronger, and will never be undermined, whether by TransCanada’s media agitation or by collusion between the fossil fuel industry and its proxies in the Alberta government and Trump administration.”
Lewis Grassrope, Wiconi un Tipi Camp, said:
“As the ošpiyē (people) of Wičoni Un Tipi, our focus is to create healthy homes, where we live, we choose life. Anything that threatens healthy living we will stand and defend our way of life.”
John Harter, Dakota Rural Action Board Chairperson, said:
“We’re still opposing this pipeline no matter what TransCanada says. They haven’t negotiated in good faith with landowners so I would warn anyone to believe anything they say. We see a great deal of opportunity for renewable energy and believe it’s the right choice for our communities.”
Mike Hudema, Climate & Energy Campaigner at Greenpeace Canada, said:
“Twenty-year commitments on a pipeline that faces a number of significant hurdles shows that pipeline proponents are in a state of denial. TransCanada’s grandstanding doesn’t change the fact that Keystone XL is facing ballooning costs, uncertainty in the fossil fuel economy, court challenges and a fierce on-the-ground resistance from Indigenous communities and landowners that will ensure this pipeline never gets build. The Alberta government’s decision to work with the Trump administration to push through a pipeline that endangers the water supplies and climate of millions of people is both disappointing and reckless. The government needs to ditch the prehistoric energy positions and start getting Alberta back on track by investing in technologies and energies of the future, not the past.”
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