Keystone XL

Reid says Senate Dems will hold the line on Keystone XL

Republicans in the Senate are driving to include KXL in the transportation funding bill. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (R-NV) said the effort wouldn't get far. "...personally I think Keystone is a program that we’re not going, that I am not going to help in any way I can." 

The votes are in, the ballots are counted, and we are excited to announce the winners of this year’s Fossil Fools Day awards!

And now, the moment you have been waiting for: taking home top honors for Biggest Fossil Fool of the 1% is [envelope, please]… TransCanada CEO Russ Girling!

Russ Girling wins this prize for his starring role in the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline project. This is his first Fossil Fools nomination. We tried to contact Mr. Girling to congratulate him on his victory, but were informed he was busy poisoning communities across the continent, so we are accepting this award on his behalf.

This morning President Obama announced his support for the southern portion of the Keystone XL pipeline. And no, unfortunately this isn’t an early April Fools joke.

It’s a hugely disappointing move, but thankfully we’re working with the Ohio Student Environmental Coalition to show our outrage with a protest at his next campaign stop at Ohio State University.

But our problem is bigger than just Ohio or Oklahoma, and it’s not limited to President Obama. That’s why we are declaring that April 1st is national Fossil Fools Day. The President’s announcement in Cushing today is just one more sign that Big Oil and the 1% have a powerful grip on our political system — and that we’ve got to do something about it, fast.

Today we gave the smack-down. Again. And boy did it feel good. Even though we know that this is a tenous win that might be revived (again) in another insipid form, I can't even express how wonderful it feels to rub it in Big Oil's face!

The whole vote I thought about all the work we've put into this, the fact checks, the calling fouls, the protests, the blogs, the petitions, the endless hours. How again and again, we've toiled away on congress to listen to the American people instead of the corporate dollars.

Then I saw my Senator from North Dakota, John Hoeven, introduce his amendment to approve Keystone XL, and shouted (literally) with excitement when the final vote count was announced. 56 to 42. I felt joy. I felt proud. I felt the excitement of possibility. And most of all, I felt relief.