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Veto of Keystone Pipeline: * Fracking * Real Climate Plan?

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AP is reporting: “President Barack Obama will veto a Republican-backed bill on Tuesday that would have approved construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, the White House said, putting a freeze on a top GOP priority — at least for now.”

WENONAH HAUTER, via Ryanne Waters, rwaters at fwwatch.org, @foodandwater@wenonahhauter
Hauter is the executive director of Food & Water Watch and wrote the piece “To Save the Climate, We Need a Ban on Fracking.” She said today: “We commend President Obama for vetoing this dangerous project in the interest of millions of Americans who depend on safe drinking water. But as the debate over the future of our energy policies evolves, we also need the president to take strong action on fracking, which is threatening Americans from coast to coast with water contamination, earthquakes and alarming health effects. A fracking ban on our precious public lands would be a smart start toward a truly clean, healthy, renewable energy future.” Food & Water Watch was the first national organization to call for a complete ban on fracking in 2011 and released “The Urgent Case for a Ban on Fracking” this past September.

MICHAEL DORSEY, via Hayden Higgins, hayden at usclimateplan.org; mkdorsey at professordorsey.com
EVAN WEBER, evan at usclimateplan.org, @usclimateplan
Dorsey is vice president for strategy and co-founder of U.S. Climate Plan. He’s quoted in a statement the group just put out: “The battle over the Keystone XL pipeline has demonstrated what is possible when a diverse movement draws a line in the sand and rallies around a single cause. The problems we’re facing are much bigger than a pipeline. More massive fossil fuel infrastructure projects continue to be proposed, and the president has shown little resolve for the transformational change the nation needs. So we must show the public and our leaders the scope of this challenge and force them to choose a side.”

Weber is executive director and co-founder of U.S. Climate Plan. He said today: “Because of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, every state in the country is now having a conversation about climate policy. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to demand solutions that match the scale of the challenge and demonstrate that people who care about climate change — especially young people — can be a political force to be reckoned with. The ‘solutions’ the government has been putting forward aren’t bold enough, so we’re launching our own plan, the Future Power Plan, to build the people power necessary to create the political will to shift the way we power our society and protect our future.”