The Honorable _____
United States Senate
Washington, DC

Dear Senator ______,

We write to urge you to vote against any bill authorizing the Keystone XL pipeline or  permitting development of tar sands oil under any circumstances — even if there is a prohibition on exporting the oil from the US.

Producing tar sands oil generates three times more carbon pollution than even conventional oil. Expanding tar sands use at a time when we urgently need to be reducing global warming pollution would make catastrophic damage from climate change unavoidable — including flooding, drought, wildfires, disease epidemics, and more. Renowned NASA scientist James Hansen has said that pursuing tar sands oil would be “game over” for the climate.

TransCanada’s job creation claims are bogus. Its own permit application projected “a peak workforce of approximately 3,500 to 4,200 construction personnel” over two years, and there’s no telling how many of these construction jobs will be in Canada. Indeed, likely toxic spills and adverse impact on the market for development of green energy sources would kill thousands more long-term jobs than the paltry number of temporary jobs it creates.

If TransCanada really thought it would be able to ship tar sands oil directly to other countries if the Keystone pipeline were stopped, it wouldn’t be spending so much to get it approved. The truth is that Canadian First Nation tribes whose land the pipeline must cross from the landlocked tar sands in Alberta to Canada’s west coast are firmly opposed, and legally able to block the project.

Many of us who oppose the pipeline have pointed out that the tar sands producers plan to export the oil to other countries after it is refined in Texas. That’s true. But even if the Senate adopts an amendment prohibiting export, approval of the pipeline must be defeated. After all, even if all the tar sands oil were used in the US, the impact in creating weather tragedies remains the same. Plus, the risks that courts will strike down the export prohibition or that Congress will change it after the pipeline is built are simply too great.

Moreover, it’s obvious that the Republicans’ attempts to force Congress to approve the pipeline after President Obama has already rejected it are nothing but a political ploy to divide the party. If an amendment on tar sands comes up on the transportation bill next week, we sincerely hope we can count on you to vote against it – for our children, our economy, and our planet.

With thanks,

Dear Mr. President,

We write to thank you for your steadfast defense of the Clean Air Act and the EPA in the face of sustained attacks. Thanks and congratulations too for the recent finalization of the strong Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, for standing behind EPA’s proposed regulations on mercury and other air toxics, and for the green energy investments you have made and are fighting to keep making.

Knowing your personal commitment both to public health and to preventing the enormous death and destruction that will result from climate change, we ask that you:

1. Champion a strong 60 mpg cars rule that would create jobs, cut costs for drivers, reduce dependence on foreign oil, protect public health, and provide one of the best opportunities we will have in the next few years to reduce carbon pollution and the threat of climate change. However, many of the rule’s benefits would be lost if the rule is watered down with exceptions and loopholes, such as a slow phase-in or clean car credits for cars that rarely use green fuels.

2. Make sure that the final rule on mercury, arsenic and other air toxins achieves no less protection than the proposed rule, estimated to prevent up to 17,000 premature deaths each year.

3. Approve strong rules to prevent the severe health problems caused by smog.

4. Encourage EPA to stick by the September timetable for issuing strong rules on greenhouse gases.

We want you to know we will back you up by speaking throughout the fall with other elected officials, asking them to speak up whenever good rules are attacked by the forces of greed. As your supporters, we are also gratified to know that this is an issue on which the right action has strong public support. A recent American Lung Association survey found that 85-90% of Americans, including over 76% of Independents, support stricter versions of these four rules.

We share your disappointment at the failure of comprehensive climate change legislation. It is exciting to know, however, that strong Clean Air Act standards, together with green energy and conservation investments, can together accomplish roughly what could have been accomplished in the first ten years of such legislation.

We remain optimistic that, with your strong leadership, the policies adopted this year will protect public health, create jobs, save money for consumers, and save millions of lives both here in the US and around the world.

Sincerely,

 

The Honorable Harry Reid
Majority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, DC

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Minority Leader
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC

Dear Majority Leader Reid & Minority Leader Pelosi,

We write to thank you for your leadership in fighting to make sure that any deficit reduction deal:

• Fully protects programs that serve low-income people;
• Invests in the infrastructure, clean energy, education, and state and local aid needed to create jobs; and
• Reclaims revenues currently being squandered on unwarranted tax breaks for millionaires like us, and eliminates loopholes that allow profitable corporations to avoid taxes.

We share your conviction that programs serving the most vulnerable, such as Medicaid, SSI, EITC, TANF, Head Start, and food stamps, must be fully protected, and that the current maximum 99 weeks of unemployment benefits should not be reduced until unemployment has returned to pre-recession levels. These are critical lifelines which must not be cut.

We deeply appreciate your stand that creating jobs by investing in clean energy, infrastructure, education, and preserving state and local services is among the most powerful steps we can take to reduce the deficit and get the economy back on track. Federal investments following WWII paved the way for the largest middle-class expansion in history and made it possible to shrink the debt as a share of the economy, and the right investments can do the same today.

Lastly, at a time when revenues are at their lowest percentage of GDP in 60 years, we appreciate your insisting that the wealthiest Americans and most profitable corporations pay their fair share. It is unconscionable that the Bush tax cuts have handed the average millionaire family over $120,000 every year while the government approaches default and working class families struggle to make ends meet.

Just as our nation would be imperiled if it made a practice of meeting the ransom demands of international hostage-takers, our democracy will be jeopardized if we capitulate to the ransom demands of Congressional radicals who seek to hold the global economy hostage.

With thanks once more for your leadership,

(your signature)

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