Keystone XL Rejection is a Hard-Fought Victory for Communities, Clean Water, and Climate

Washington, DC -- Today, President Joe Biden will begin taking immediate action on the climate crisis, including rescinding the “presidential permit” for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, killing the controversial proposed project once and for all. 

If built, Keystone XL would have carried 830,000 gallons per day of the dirtiest oil on the planet from the Alberta tar sands through Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska, threatening farmland, critical water resources, and wildlife habitat along the way. Since it was proposed in 2008, the pipeline has faced massive opposition from landowners and Indigenous communities along its proposed route and nationwide. 

One of Donald Trump’s first actions in office was reversing former President Obama’s 2015 rejection of the pipeline, but construction along most of the route has remained stalled as a result of legal challenges to Trump’s rushed and insufficient analysis of the risks to our waterways, climate, and communities. 

In response, Sierra Club Dirty Fuels Campaign Associate Director Catherine Collentine released the following statement:

“Today’s rejection of Keystone XL will be a huge and hard-fought victory for our communities, clean water, and climate. When this pipeline was proposed, it was a foregone conclusion that it would easily be approved and constructed. The fact that it still hasn’t been built over 12 years later, and that later today it will be rejected for good, is a testament to the dedication and tenacity of a nationwide movement of frontline communities, Indigenous leaders, and environmentalists working together to insist that our future is not worth sacrificing for a dirty tar sands pipeline. We applaud President Biden for listening to these voices and rejecting this terrible project once and for all.”