Obama Administration OKs Portion of TransCanada's Tar Sands Pipeline

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/06/27-3

Published on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 by Common Dreams
Obama Administration OKs Portion of TransCanada's Tar Sands Pipeline
Company received permit from Army Corps of Engineers to begin building southern portion of its Keystone XL pipeline
- Common Dreams staff

The Obama administration gave TransCanada the OK to build the southern portion of its Keystone XL tar sands pipeline on Tuesday.

“President Obama abandoned Texans and Oklahomans to the whims of Big Oil and an Army Corps that appears only too willing to serve them,” said Kim Huynh, dirty fuels campaigner at Friends of the Earth. (photo: Josh Lopez via tarsandsaction) The company still needs two other permits to build the other portions of the Keystone XL, which will bring tar sands crude from Albert to Texas' Gulf coast.

Environmental activists have slammed the decision and vowed to continue fighting the pipeline.

“President Obama abandoned Texans and Oklahomans to the whims of Big Oil and an Army Corps that appears only too willing to serve them,” said Kim Huynh, dirty fuels campaigner at Friends of the Earth. “The Army Corps has shown a willful disregard for the concerns of residents whose health, land and livelihoods are at stake if Keystone XL is rubber-stamped, which is why we’re calling on [EPA] Administrator Lisa Jackson to step in and call for a full environmental review.”

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