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How You Can Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline Dead In Its Tracks — Again

by Diana Best

March 27, 2017

Last week, Donald Trump’s State Department approved the permit request to revive the Keystone XL pipeline — but this fight is far from over.

No Keystone XL Pipeline NoKXL

Keystone XL Pipeline protesters hold a sign reading "No KXL."

KXL is back — or so the Trump administration hopes.

Last week, the State Department issued its permit for the highly controversial Keystone XL pipeline. As proposed, the pipeline would transport 800,000 barrels of Canadian tar sands oil from Alberta across America’s heartland, compromising the health, water, and environment of countless communities and sovereign Indigenous Nations along its path. Simply put, the project is a disaster and has been since its inception.

Here is the response we issued on Friday immediately following the announcement, as well as what some of our allies had to say.

You have stopped this fossil fuel disaster before — and you can do it again.

Years of courageous and bold action by an alliance of Indigenous communities, ranchers, farmers, and climate activists stopped KXL from advancing during the Obama administration. That same energy and commitment from pipeline fighters to hold the line on this project is back and it’s stronger than ever.

Trump is trying to breathe artificial life into this project. But because it was delayed once before — and a slew of other obstacles — it will be a major uphill battle for the company behind KXL, TransCanada, to push it through.

One of the biggest obstacles Transcanada faces is financing the pipeline. In the near term, the company will need to raise a lot of money from investors, and will be doing everything it can to communicate to banks, shareholders, and other financial institutions that Keystone XL is a sure bet.

Unfortunately for them, basic logic says that it’s not.

Keystone XL faces historic on-the-ground challenges, including numerous legal and permitting obstacles and opposition from Indigenous communities, First Nations, and property owners in its path. And in the time since KXL was first challenged, controversial fossil fuel projects like the Dakota Access Pipeline have been confronted with resistance from millions around the world.

Any financial institution associated with bankrolling the Keystone XL pipeline should expect to be met similar scrutiny and opposition.

That’s why we’re putting banks on notice: do not finance the Keystone XL Pipeline.

This push to take the financial wind out of KXL’s sails starts with U.S. banks that have done business with TransCanada in the past. Thanks to our friends at Rainforest Action Network, we know that many of the banks in TransCanada’s contact list also financed the Dakota Access Pipeline. Banks should know that continuing to fund projects that violate human rights and environmental laws will cost them money through delays, legal actions, high-profile protests, and long-term reputational damage.

Join us in telling Citi, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, TD Bank, and Bank of America they must not provide any financial services to TransCanada that would contribute to the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline — sign the petition today!

Each of these banks (Citi, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, TD Bank, and Bank of America) have publicly committed to fighting climate change and advancing sustainable futures, while engaging local communities. But apparently they need a reminder — supporting the company behind the Keystone XL Pipeline does exactly the opposite.

If these banks are truly the sustainability leaders they say they are, they’ll steer clear of TransCanada and KXL.

Diana Best

By Diana Best

Diana Best is a senior climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace USA, based in Denver, Colorado. She began working with Greenpeace in 2008 on federal climate legislation and has since worked on reforming federal fossil fuel leasing programs and fighting new infrastructure projects around the United States. She is currently leading Greenpeace’s “Hold the Line” work aimed at halting the political and social influence of the oil industry during Trump’s administration.

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