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Media Advisory, June 6, 2013

Contact: 

 Jerry Karnas, (520) 260-7172

Hundreds to Protest Keystone XL at Obama Event in Palo Alto

PALO ALTO, Calif.— Hundreds of activists from around the Bay Area will protest Keystone XL this afternoon outside a fundraiser with President Obama. The Center for Biological Diversity is joining local and national environmental groups in organizing the protest. The rally, including activists in hazmat suits, will be the largest anti-Keystone gathering in California so far.

What: A protest against Keystone XL outside President Obama’s fundraising event. Hundreds of activists will be available for photos, interviews and B-roll.
When: Thursday, June 6, from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Where: The corner of Middlefield Road and University Avenue, Palo Alto, Calif.
Photo/Video/Interviews: Hundreds of activists, Center staff in hazmat suits.

Background:
President Obama is visiting Palo Alto for two fundraisers, and hundreds of activists will be there to urge him to reject the Keystone pipeline.

“Keystone XL would set America on a dangerous path toward climate catastrophe and more oil spills,” said Jerry Karnas, field director at the Center. “There’s no better place to start talking about clean energy and a transition away from dirty fossil fuels than Silicon Valley. It’s time for President Obama to heed what ordinary Americans across the country are saying: Reject Keystone.”

The proposed Keystone XL pipeline would, every day, carry up to 35 million gallons of oil strip-mined from Canada’s “tar sands” — some of the dirtiest fuels on the planet. The pipeline would cross the heart of the Midwest and deliver oil to the Gulf of Mexico, where much of it would be exported to other countries. Along the way the pipeline would cut through rivers, streams and prime wildlife habitat for at least 20 imperiled species, including whooping cranes and pallid sturgeon.

Strip mining of oil from Alberta’s tar sands is also destroying tens of thousands of acres of boreal forest and polluting hundreds of millions of gallons of water from the Athabasca River— in the process creating toxic ponds so large they can be seen from space.

Extraction and refinement of tar-sands oil produces two times more greenhouse gases per barrel than conventional oil and represents a massive new source of fossil fuels that leading climate scientist Dr. James Hansen has called “game over” for our ability to avoid a climate catastrophe.

For more information, please go to NoKeystone.org.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 500,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.


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