Over 200 business leaders call on the President to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline
Over 200 business leaders sent a letter to President Obama calling on him to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline as not being in our economic interest. The State Department is currently determining whether this project is in the national interest. Business leaders and investors with a stake in the clean energy economy are sending a clear message: the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline will undermine our efforts to move forward with clean energy investments. It is not in our economic interest to support expansion of the tar sands oil industry.
Providing input into the national interest determination process around the pipeline, these business leaders find that “Permitting the Keystone XL pipeline is a long-term investment in tar sands oil, one of the most carbon and water intensive fuels under development. If constructed, this pipeline will undermine the U.S. commitment to a transition to clean, sustainable energy.”
The letter provides the solution: “We urge you to reject projects that are so detrimental to America’s emerging clean energy economy by finding that the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is not in our national interest.”
The letter comes from business owners, investors, economists, and many others who are deeply committed to America’s clean energy economy. They are members of a group called Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2). E2 is a non partisan, national community whose members manage over $90 billion in private equity capital that nourishes our economy.
E2 members have a real stake in this issue: they are the ones on the frontlines in the United States helping us to achieve a clean energy economy by investing in companies and creating jobs. Theirs is a strong voice in this debate. They are concerned that with tar sands expansion, America will be going after a source of oil that actually undermines jobs in our country as recently found in a report from the Cornell Global Labor Institute. They are concerned that with tar sands we are increasing our dependence on ever more expensive and more risky forms of oil. They are concerned that despite the energy security arguments made by pipeline proponents, the pipeline is endangering American economic interests to export tar sands to markets abroad. And they know from their own investments and experience that this is the time for us to stay committed to American ingenuity and American clean energy businesses, jobs and investments.
The business community is sending a clear message to the White House: this is not the time for moving backwards with expansion of the costly and risky tar sands oil. The President should reject the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline as not in our national economic interest.