March 24, 2017
Washington, DC- In response to the State Department’s final approval of the Keystone pipeline, Greenpeace USA Executive Director Annie Leonard said,
“The State Department just sent a signal to the rest of the world that the United States government is moving backwards when it comes to climate and energy. The Trump administration may be furiously propping up an obsolete energy system at the behest of his fossil fuel cronies, but the majority of people in this country want action on climate change and want support for renewable energy.
It takes money to build a pipeline, and the opposition movement to stop fossil fuel projects like Keystone will do everything it can to deprive TransCanada of any new funding for this ill-fated and unnecessary pipeline. TransCanada may have a permit, but can they find the funding?
Financial institutions should have learned by now that it’s risky to hitch themselves to a project that already faces historic on-the-ground opposition from private landowners and Indigenous sovereign nations and could unlock a massive environmental, health, and climate disaster. The world simply cannot afford to transport or burn the Canadian tar sands if we hope to have any chance at avoiding catastrophic climate change. Keystone was stopped once before, and it will be stopped again.”
Greenpeace is now asking Citi, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, TD Bank and Bank of America to not provide financial services to TransCanada that could help construct the pipeline. After a push from Greenpeace USA earlier this month, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson publicly confirmed he recused himself from the Keystone decision since Exxon stood to profit from the pipeline. Greenpeace is still asking the State Department to provide documentation about the justification for Rex Tillerson’s recusal and any waivers obtained or requested.
Contact:
Cassady Craighill, [email protected], 828-817-3328
